F ³: A Glass of Contradictions

 

It’s Friday. Drinks, anyone?

Drink tequila, save the planet.

You know what rhymes with Friday? Alcohol.

You know what rhymes with Saturday? Beer.

Drinking alcohol is deeply engrained in our culture. Alcohol is almost a culture unto itself: selling, promoting, pairing alcoholic beverages with activities, talking about drinking, looking forward to drinking, even expecting that alcohol will be an integral part of being with family and friends or celebrating life’s important milestones.

For many people that’s okay. They may have had a bit too much once or twice but drinking alcohol is for them an occasional thing and life goes on unharmed. Popular culture wants us to believe that‘s everybody. It isn’t.

And even those who treat alcohol as a harmless fling can drive drunk, cause workplace accidents, do something they and others regret/are harmed by. 

Then there are those whose bodies and lives and relationships and careers are wrecked by alcohol consumption. For them alcohol is a poisonous, debilitating, and addictive substance. Some are crushed. Some are able to get sober. Some even stay sober.

But it takes work. It is often intensely hard work, every day. I honestly believe that it is genetic disposition or what some might call the luck of the draw which lays the groundwork for alcohol addiction - -  not bad behavior, weakness, or poor moral character as is often suggested. 

Imagine if a simple medical test could inform you early in life that alcohol should be off limits for you. Would it help? 

We accept that some people are allergic to pennicillin and wear identifying bracelets with medical instructions. How would our culture relate to people wearing medical bracelets that bore the inscription: no alcohol? How would that work when everywhere you look in our culture somewhere is offering you a drink?

Imbibing alcohol is what’s normal, the messages tell us. And not just “normal.” It’s more insidious than that.

Drink and be:

• Manly
• Sexy
• Successful 
• One of the group
• Fun
• Cool
• Relaxed
• Grown up

You can probably think of a few more.

By the way, I’m not singling out the three businesses above to accuse them of bad behavior. They are just three local examples of how deeply engrained alcohol is in our culture. 

I do wish I saw more messages that made room for people who either don’t care to drink or absolutely cannot drink. They are in our world, too. Not participating in alcohol culture shouldn’t be the reason to be the punchline of a joke to one’s face or whispered rumours behind one’s back. Making room for people who choose to be sober could take a lot of the pressure off young people, too, as they grow up and observe the behavior of those around them.

Who do they look to - - trusted adults or adverts and the internet? Are the adults in their lives modeling healthy and safe attitudes around alcohol? 

That’s why I keep coming back to the work Sobar does to provide alcohol-free beverage alternatives and enjoyable sober events and environments. They’re a small voice, but a good one, amidst the constant chorus of exhortations to pop open a cold one. 

Why this message? Why today? Is it just because “Friday rhymes with alcohol”? Well, just in case you bump into people pontificating about the evils of marijuana today, perhaps you could raise the issue of our messed-up attitudes towards alcohol. We need more conversations like that.

Take the pressure off. Make some room. Seems like a good Friday slogan to me.