"How come you don't drink any more?" a renewed acquaintance from a long time ago asked the other day.
"Any more than who?" I said.
"I mean, any longer, how come you don't drink anything these days?"
"Drink? I drink… coffee, milk, tea, soda pop, water, fruit juices, ice cream frappes…"
"I mean drink," he said, "you know 'booze'."
"Oh, booze, no, I don't drink booze anymore, you're right," I said, "I couldn't trust it anymore. It turned on me. Once my friend, it became my enemy."
"Maybe you got a bad batch," he said.
"No, the sauce is the same, I changed. Because I have the illness of Alcoholism, my tolerance weakened. Alcoholism doesn't come in bottles, it comes in people."
"Sounds pretty confusing," the fellow said.
"You think you're confused," I said, "You should have seen me… I drank for happiness and became unhappy; I drank for joy and became miserable; 1 drank to be outgoing and became self-centered; I drank for sociability and became argumentative and lonely…"
"I drank for sophistication and became crude and obnoxious; I drank for friendship and made enemies; I drank to soften sorrow and wallowed in self-pity; 'I drank for sleep and awakened without rest
"I drank for strength and felt weak; I drank to prove my manhood and it sapped my potency; I drank medicinally and got sick; I drank because I thought my job called for it and lost my job."
"I drank for relaxation and got the shakes; I drank for confidence and became uncertain; I drank for courage and became afraid; I drank for assurance and became doubtful."
"I drank to stimulate thought and blacked out; I drank to make conversation and tied my tongue; I drank for warmth and lost my cool; I drank for – coolness and lost my warmth…"
"I drank to feel heavenly and came to know hell; I drank to forget and became haunted; I drank for freedom and became a slave; I drank for power and became powerless; I drank to erase problems and saw them multiply; I drank to cope with life and invited death … or worse…
"I drank because I had the right and everything turned out wrong."
"Gosh!" my friend exclaimed, "That must have taken a bunch of booze to get you in that shape."
"Just one;" I told him "The first one, for me, one's too many and a thousand's not enough."
"So that's why you don't drink anymore?"
"Yep, I made it a rule, I don't drink while I'm sober."
Anonymous
Printed in Pass It On!, newsletter of the Central Office of Albuquerque, NM USA. April 1998; Vol 23, Number 3