Calvin1

Last night, I went out for my final drinks. I had set up my sobriety time to today so I decided to get some last drinks much like a convict awaiting death row gets his last meal. I decided to go out alone and really think about my last drinks and the whole world of drinking versus sobriety. It was the first time I had ever really thought about the whole experience

So I sat at the bar, I had my four favorite drinks (originally meant to have two final drinks...go figure) and I watched the whole bar scene. Here I was drinking a poison in a dimly lit room filled with drunk and semi-drunk people.

The whole scene is alcohol industry propaganda...all of it. The bartender was a thin pretty 20 year old girl with very very very short shorts...of course they have pretty bartenders for a reason...so you will spend more money on booze. Then of course they put the liquor in shiny bottles on a beautifully lit island right in the middle of bar on a pedestal as though as though alcohol is meant to be worshiped. At every turn the walls are covered in giant beer ad posters and on the big screen TV, there pops up a beer commercial that features regular guys having fun and being friends by drinking beer. Of course.

On the tables next to me, there were about 15 drunk guys watching the cowboys game and getting way way too excited about it. Every time the cowboys scored a point or thwarted their opponent's offence, the drunk people would get so ridiculously excited. Excited over something that has no meaningful implications in their lives or the lives of those they love. I think that the alcohol allows them to live vicariously. They don't have their own life, so instead they shut down the part of their brain that tells them what reality is and use alcohol as a means of living a fantasy. It's all propaganda. Propaganda to separate you from your dollar.

So that evening I spent a grand total of $18 on four drinks (that was during sunday happy hour--kind of expensive, huh?) and left the bar scene for life.

The next day, I get on facebook and am greeted with numerous alcohol adds (as facebook always does). Ever notice that alcohol is advertised disproportionately at a higher rate than any other consumable item? For every soft drink ad, I will show you ten beer ads easily. It's all propaganda...because, keep in mind, the alcohol industry is a drug pusher. They are drug lords. They will do everything they can to convince you that alcohol is an essential part of a healthy, happy life. Practically all socializing on TV shows is done with alcohol in hand (product placement). Then there are the commercials and billboards and once in a while the news will put out a study that says moderate drinking is good for you (not good for you...just thins out the blood--just follow your doctor's orders if your blood is too thick).

My friends are pretty much all taken by this propaganda. When I announced today on facebook that I quit drinking, I get greeted with an "I hate you" (jokingly of course) and "no one likes quitters" (jokes). They probably think I am not serious that I just had a bad hangover and will soon be back to drinking. Not drinking is like heresy to them...and my friends are not hard partiers, they are average people.

This is probably why staying abstinent is so hard. I am in my twenties and I am a single guy who is an Agnostic. I don't have a high pressure career (though I do have a full time job) or wife, kids or religion to keep me from drinking and a society that says I should be drinking. So I am going to have to commit complete heresy against society by being a nondrinker.