Skip to main content

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.







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

Getting Fresh

One of my favorite days in the Spring comes when this year’s list of Farmer’s Markets is released. That happened this week. New this year are markets in Old Ellicott City and the “Merriweather Market” which, according to the address, will be located here . I mistakenly thought at first glance that it was in the new-construction part of the Merriweather District. I find the name confusing considering its actual location. I’m going to guess that this market is an initiative of the Howard Hughes Corporation because the name seems chosen more for branding purposes than anything else.  Alas, the market in Maple Lawn is gone. The thread on the markets on the County Executive’s FB page will provide you with quite the education in who actually runs the Farmers Markets vs what people often think is going on. Short answer: they are not  chosen nor run by the county. Each market is an independent entity, sometimes started by community volunteers, other times supported by local businesses...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more