1. My wife, son, and I attended a college football game at the former Fedex Field near Washington, DC, home of the Redskins. We got moderate-priced tickets; not the cheapest, not the most expensive. I didn't enjoy the game, because I couldn't see it, because people never sat down. But as the game wore on, people started yelling loudly and incoherently. Many around us were extremely drunk. As we were leaving the game, my ears still ringing, I noticed a lot more inebriated people.
2. My wife and I went on an international trip with a tour group. Dinner was part of the package. So after a day of intense tourning, we arrived at our hotel each evening for dinner. Wife and I were pretty beat, and we often caught a ten-minute snooze before eating. Every night when we arrived at the dining room, the majority of the bus patrons had been at the bar getting drinks, which they brought to the dinner table. Some of them had a lot to drink, and after dinner, they returned to the bar.
3. We have a columnist at our local paper. All he can talk about in his column are reunions with friends at bars, what bars he goes to, what booze he likes to drink with his meals.. It's all under the guise of being a fun-loving guy and having a good time, but alcohol is always the common denominator.
4. I joined a men's group 20 years ago. They were searching for a good restaurant in which to hold the annual Christmas dinner. I suggested a great popular buffet restaurant. Somebody whispered to me "They don't serve alcohol" as if I should have known that would negate it.
5. I have a friend who runs an art museum. Their big fundraiser is a whiskey tasting. Vendors come to the museum annually and dispense their products. 300 people attend, paying $75 for the privilege. It's sold out every year. My friend says the patrons get more generous as the evening goes on. Quite a few are drunk at the end of the night. Now granted this one is different, because people go there to drink.
6. I dated a girl decades ago, Today she and her husband go on an annual cruise with another couple. The men are childhood friends. She posts on facebook photos of the drunken men on the golf course, patrons at the lounge, or the group at dinner, a big glass of wine at each plate. Booze is the common denominator. I never knew people attended cruises to drink.
I must be naive, because I have always taken most things at face value: Golf, cruises, college football games, tailgating, group trips. I thought many people enjoyed these activities for their own merit. But those things for many people are excuses to drink and get drunk.
There is a truth that whatever someone talks about most of the time is where their heart is. And many people are obsessed with alcohol. They talk about it, know about it, expound about it. I went to a cookout with some friends, and the 40-something men, all they could talk about was craft beer; making it, drinking it. It went on and on. I concluded that those guys were alcoholics.
I rarely drink, and have never been drunk, but I never thought of myself an anomaly. I don't abstain because of moral reasons; I just don't like the stuff. As I go to more and more events, though, I encounter more and more people who are drunks. It seems like the country is full of alcoholics.
Is this anyone else's experience?
2. My wife and I went on an international trip with a tour group. Dinner was part of the package. So after a day of intense tourning, we arrived at our hotel each evening for dinner. Wife and I were pretty beat, and we often caught a ten-minute snooze before eating. Every night when we arrived at the dining room, the majority of the bus patrons had been at the bar getting drinks, which they brought to the dinner table. Some of them had a lot to drink, and after dinner, they returned to the bar.
3. We have a columnist at our local paper. All he can talk about in his column are reunions with friends at bars, what bars he goes to, what booze he likes to drink with his meals.. It's all under the guise of being a fun-loving guy and having a good time, but alcohol is always the common denominator.
4. I joined a men's group 20 years ago. They were searching for a good restaurant in which to hold the annual Christmas dinner. I suggested a great popular buffet restaurant. Somebody whispered to me "They don't serve alcohol" as if I should have known that would negate it.
5. I have a friend who runs an art museum. Their big fundraiser is a whiskey tasting. Vendors come to the museum annually and dispense their products. 300 people attend, paying $75 for the privilege. It's sold out every year. My friend says the patrons get more generous as the evening goes on. Quite a few are drunk at the end of the night. Now granted this one is different, because people go there to drink.
6. I dated a girl decades ago, Today she and her husband go on an annual cruise with another couple. The men are childhood friends. She posts on facebook photos of the drunken men on the golf course, patrons at the lounge, or the group at dinner, a big glass of wine at each plate. Booze is the common denominator. I never knew people attended cruises to drink.
I must be naive, because I have always taken most things at face value: Golf, cruises, college football games, tailgating, group trips. I thought many people enjoyed these activities for their own merit. But those things for many people are excuses to drink and get drunk.
There is a truth that whatever someone talks about most of the time is where their heart is. And many people are obsessed with alcohol. They talk about it, know about it, expound about it. I went to a cookout with some friends, and the 40-something men, all they could talk about was craft beer; making it, drinking it. It went on and on. I concluded that those guys were alcoholics.
I rarely drink, and have never been drunk, but I never thought of myself an anomaly. I don't abstain because of moral reasons; I just don't like the stuff. As I go to more and more events, though, I encounter more and more people who are drunks. It seems like the country is full of alcoholics.
Is this anyone else's experience?