I don't like alcohol. Actually, I guess that's not a true statement. I don't
think I like alcohol. I have to say
think because I have never tasted an alcoholic beverage (nor smoked a cigarette nor taken any illegal substances), and I have no intention of ever consuming any amount of an alcoholic beverage, either. (Does cough medicine count as an alcoholic beverage? *smile*) I
do know that I do not like the potential effects of alcohol consumption.
From my observations, alcohol appears to be a seductive siren, luring the unwary into succumbing to her advertised charms. On the one hand, if you don't drink, you could be labeled a goody-goody, or people might think you are rude for not joining them in drinking "just one." On the other, "everyone's" drinking, it seems like fun, and the advertisements portray those who do drink as intelligent, witty, and the life of the proverbial party. Who wouldn't want a part of that?
Unfortunately, those slick advertisements don't show you what may await at the end of what is all too often a slippery slope: the man who spends on alcohol every penny he can find, not caring that the money he is spending in a vain attempt to quench his unquenchable thirst is needed to pay bills or buy clothes and food; the college coed whose judgment is impaired by having one too many and ends up being easy prey for an uncaring (or worse) male; the person who ends up killing another person because he decided to drive after drinking; the homeless person who lost everything because of his alcoholism - the scenarios are nearly unending, and none of them are pretty.
You see, alcohol doesn't care about your wealth or social status. For every celebrity who makes the news for entering (yet again) into rehab, there are many others quietly entering
alcohol rehabs in an attempt to break their bondage to the fiery drink. There are many paths to alcohol abuse/addiction: the poor drink to forget their poverty, the rich drink because society "demands" it, the sorrowful drink to drown their sorrows, and the happy drink to celebrate their happiness. Yet drinking can be compared to playing Russian roulette: you never know which drink will be the one when you became a drunkard.
No, thank you. I'm not taking chances. If I don't take that first drink, I will never become an alcoholic. Your life is yours to live, and I am not telling you how to live it. May I, however, kindly advise that you avoid even the beginning of the path that could lead to your destruction?
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