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Drunk in Public - Source: Daily Mirror |
Alcohol is a
great leveller isn’t it?
It doesn’t
matter where you come from, how good your education or what colour your skin
is. Whether your tipple is the finest champagne or the cheapest white cider the
ultimate effect can be the same.
It worries
me when I see pictures like the one above. It reminds me that I lost all self-respect
through drinking. As an alcoholic, all I cared about was getting enough alcohol
in my bloodstream for the day. I stopped caring about my family and friends,
what I looked like, how I smelt or how I behaved. Most days I couldn’t remember
anyway so why should I care.
But it’s not
me that I worry about, it’s my children and other peoples children too.
Binge
drinking seems to have become an accepted norm amongst youngsters. Falling flat
on your face after a night out is not only acceptable but expected.
Is binge
drinking as big a problem as the tabloids make out? Well yes, I think that it
is. Sound like an old fart imparting his wisdom but; when I was a teenager yes
we used to drink and yes, sometimes we got drunk but I don’t remember scenes
like the above on the streets where I used to live.
I used to live, when I was a practicing alcoholic,
in a small room in a busy town centre in the South East of England. Opposite
where I lived was a pub that, in the day, serviced people like me but three
nights a week; it became a night spot for youngsters. Let the binge begin.
At about 9.00pm,
the doors of the pub were closed and bouncers appeared at the entrance. To get
in you had to pay an entrance fee and in return, you got loud dance music and
cheap booze.
I never went
in on these nights; I didn’t need to pay an entrance fee to get a drink in a
pub, but I used to hear the aftermath from my room in the early hours of the morning
when they all got kicked out; breaking glass, fights, screams the lot and the
mess, the in the morning was indescribable.
God forbid
that my kids ever binge drink and get into that sort of state but then they are
all someone’s kids aren’t they.
I doubt that
these binge drinkers are alcoholics (yet) but they are living in a culture
where being falling down drunk is not only acceptable but funny. Their peers
don’t scorn them for vomiting in the street, they egg them on.
I’m ashamed
of what I became through drink and I’m ashamed of how I live now. So much so
that I have only contacted a very small number of close family since I left
hospital to let them know I’m OK. I’m still hiding where I live even from them.
I wish I
could take these kids to one side and show them how I live now but I doubt that
they would take it on board after all, it’s never going to happen to you is it?
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