This morning I brushed my teeth to a CBC Ontario Morning radio interview with someone who is a recovering alcoholic and was offering encouragement and advice for those who will be in social gathering where drinking will occur through this holiday season. It was a recognition that this can be a precarious time for those with substance abuse challenges and I commend CBC for offering this interview.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/programs/ontariomorning/ontario-morning-wednesday-december-20-2017-part-3-1.4457925
I grew up in a teetotalling home, so alcohol was never part of the occasion in our family festivities. Today I am a moderate drinker, although I gave up alcohol for a year in my twenties after working as a summer chaplain in Kingston Penitentiary. So many of the men to whom I ministered were in prison, sometimes with life sentences, for crimes committed under the influence of drugs or alcohol. I quit in solidarity with these inmates, and I did think of the verse in Romans 14 that says "it is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble." Before long though I was back to my barbecue beer, or wine with dinner, or...some low-key Christmas wassailing.
I'm not going to encourage anyone not to drink through the holidays. It is an enjoyable social thing to do within the proverbial moderation. Just the same, we do need to be respectful and kind to those for whom this is an issue. When Ruth, my wife, worked as a counselor in a shelter for women and children leaving abusive situations she spoke with clients who feared what was supposed to be a festive family time because of their "ugly drunk" partners. There are readers of this blog who have been to hell and back with loved ones whose addictions have derailed their lives and those around them.
The person being interviewed this morning reminded listeners that it's nobody's business why a person isn't drinking, and that being respectful as hosts is important. There is no "bah humbug" in kindness.
Any comments on this dear readers?
1 comment:
I had policed a community in Saskatchewan in which substance abuse was an enormous problem. Binge drinking - and the inevitable violence that ensued - and gasoline sniffing were probably the biggest culprits.
I was always amazed at the difference in behaviour in guys who I would arrest in the evening, when many were trying to fight me and sometimes even try to grab me gun, and the following morning when they were released(sometimes after being charged) sober. They would often be the most polite, soft-spoken people, and during my time in that community, I began to resent alcohol. I just saw how it was destroying families and the community. Moderate drinking was not practiced very much there, but there were systemic and very complex problems that led to this problem.
As we know, alcoholism is a disease and its victims need treatment, but there is no way anyone should ever be staying in a relationship of abuse because of it.
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