30 Days Honesty Blogging Dare - Day 13

This 30 Days Honesty Blogging dare is hosted by Tom Baker. Check out his blog, including a list of the other participants in this fun - and sometimes challenging - dare.

Day 13: I once got so drunk and lost control and this is what I was told I did and have no reason to doubt it...

I can't decide whether this is an easy question or a boring one. Easy because I've never been drunk before - I've been tipsy a few times, or boring because I don't see the point in getting drunk and have no "exciting or fun" stories to tell. I suppose if you're looking for one of the latter, you've definitely come to the wrong place.

In all honesty - and not intending to judge anyone who disagrees with me - I don't see the point of having such a "good" time that you have no recollection of it afterward. For me it kind of equates to my going to bed at 10pm on New Years eve, and sleeping through an uneventful night, vs. someone who went out partying for the night and have no memory of it the next day. 

"So, what did you do on New Years' eve?" ~ "I don't know - I was drunk."

vs.

"So, what did you do on New Years' eve?" ~ I don't know - I was asleep."

The difference is in the day after. I have no hangover, I feel rested and I have a great day planned, doing something that I'm going to enjoy. The other person will often/usually do nothing, struggling to sleep off a hangover. Or maybe someone didn't even see New Years, killed in a drunken driving accident at 3am on the 1st of January.

For me alcohol in itself is not a problem, but many don't have the self control to know what to do with alcohol. In the hands of those, marriages, property and lives are destroyed all in pursuit of a "good time" - a "good time" that you cannot remember the next morning. And should you be the lucky one to wake up from your drunken stupor, but someone else lost their life or their loved ones because of you, then I don't know who is more lucky - the one who died or the one who has to live with him/herself. Not exactly something that can be fixed with a "sorry", no matter how sincere.

I met a man on the street a few years ago. When he was 19 him and his friends went out one night to celebrate having just finished serving two years in the military. During their "good time" and celebration they had gotten drunk, drove their car and killed a person. I'm unsure of the exact detail, but he landed up either taking the wrap, or he was actually the driver, but he got sentenced to many, many years in prison. In his early 40's he was released on good behavior - he was now 45. He had been living aimlessly on the streets since because he never got an education, never held any job, and no one wanted to hire someone with no work experience and only a jail record. He never got married, his own family wanted nothing to do with him, and he was broke - broke and broken. My heart bled for him. His "good time" had cost him his life! - literally! 

When I look at what alcohol and drunkenness does to people, I can well understand why the Bible describes it as debauchery and if this is an honesty dare, then I have to admit that I have no respect for it - and at times, no patience.

I do enjoy a good glass of wine, I celebrate with a glass of champagne, I enjoy a cold beer on a hot day, or a cider or a liqueur, but I don't let it enjoy me.

Call me boring, but if I'm going to have a good time, I'm darn well going to remember it, and smell good while I'm at it!