zaph8000.com

There are a few things that get a bad press time & time again but drinking is by & far the winner, there’s hardly anyone in the newspaper or magazine business that wants to do anything except explore the dark side of drink. Okay so it causes untold misery to millions & is responsible for countless accidents & early deaths but aside from that is it really all that bad? The statistics seem to be painting a fairly grim picture of cause & effect & there does appear to be some circumstantial link between consuming large volumes of alcohol & bad things happening but is drink to blame? Even if it is are we only examining the evidence from one side? Hasn’t our addiction for intoxicating beverages brought us anything worthwhile at all or have we been fooling ourselves all along? Could drinking or not drinking make a difference to our lives? Well, if you’re about to fly a plane or perform an operation then nipping out for a few pints is probably not a great idea, then again if you’re a referee you might as well, it might help a bit & you’d resent the booing less.

The thing is that drinking tends to produce tales that dwell on the broken homes & early deaths far more than they mention the thousands of good nights out that happen every week, besides, even with really heavy drinking it takes years to break a home & even longer to die from it. This isn’t to say that these things are to be applauded but that for all the homes that are broken by drink there’s more than a few that have been if not saved by it then at least prolonged, & we all have to die of something eventually anyway. Being addicted to anything isn’t great & it’s true to say that within our society it’s easy to find yourself drinking more & more & earlier & earlier, Summer barbeques are clearly a factor but lousy bosses are just as much to blame. There’s also the snob value to consider as well, the bloke who swigs off a six pack every night will be looked down upon whilst the wine drinkers are taken as cultured even if they get just as hammered, sometimes what you drink counts unless it’s meths in which case it’s not drinking. Drinking as a social event has brought overwhelming benefits to millions, having drinks with the boss can get promotion, having drinks with the local crowds can get you inside knowledge & best of all drinking may not gain you a super model but it will get you laid.This could lead to marriage & eventual misery but fear not, drinking will save you even here as it’s incredibly rare that two people who fancy each other whilst drunk will be able to stand the sight of each other once sober, beer goggles come with insurance.

The resources of the NHS are also often considered to be struggling under the effects of our alcohol fueled frenzy but even here there are good things to be had, where would liver transplants be without drinkers? It’s not as if we could shut down the hospitals by bringing in prohibition, & they are there after all for the general public to be treated in & if the general public consists of a fair amount of piss heads then at least they’re contributing to the economy in the only way they know how. No-one needs to race Formula One cars & it’s bloody dangerous but I don’t begrudge them their treatment if they crash, it’s the same with the police, they have to arrest someone on a Friday night & always arresting sober people has got to be dull. The culture of drink may end up costing this nation billions but it is costing those hardy souls a few billion to get into that state, there may be those that go overboard & lose it & there’s always the odd idiot that drinks & drives but in the main drinking is an activity that generates more immediate uplifts than most others. It may be a great achievement to go through the AA programme & come out of it a changed person but celebrating afterwards has got to suck, & what do you do on weekends? Drinking isn’t a demon & drinkers aren’t evil, it’s like garlic, a little here & there can work wonders but too much & it’s all going in the bin, I’m off for a pint.

© 2010, zaph. All rights reserved.