Alcohol and I. I don't drink alcohol. I haven't for 30+ years...

So the last time I recall drinking any alcoholic beverage I was 16, and of course that means it technically was not legal. Though I kicked it to the curb quickly as I was entering the worst phase of my life related to alcohol and I came to HATE IT with a passion.

Yes, I was 16 and I hated alcohol and would have strongly been in favor of banning it. No at the time I had very little knowledge of prohibition other than it existed and moonshine and other mafia related things grew like weeds during that period. I didn't really know anything beyond that. I did think that the people that called for prohibition must have been geniuses.

Keep in mind I was 16 and I was very angry.

Why was I angry? Well I was raised by alcoholic parents. Both of them. My mother would try to quit or claim to, but would get sucked back into it because of my father. I got to see the cycles of "quitting", followed by "I only had one", and soon right back where things started. I saw those things many times... I had promises made to me many times as a kid before weekend to soon realize if my parents went to the bar Friday night that anything they said about the weekend would not happen.

By the time I was a sophomore in H.S. I was at my peak. I was not suicidal, but I was 100% fearless. I had no fear of any bullies, or anyone way bigger than me, or even multiple people at once. I figured the worst that could happen is they would put me out of my misery. I had several cases where I by all rights would have had my ass handed to me and they would invariably back down. Later in life I decided it was my total lack of fear, and my very sincere "let's go attitude" that inspired them to back down. I'm not saying this was a good thing on my part. It was not, it was reckless. In hind sight I was very lucky.

I didn't give a damn if my parents divorced, in fact at the time I thought it might be a good thing. My dad I believe finally realized this and my mother was actually considering divorce I believe. My dad locked himself in a trailer for 5 days and quit cold turkey. They both quit, but he was the one that had it the worst. He sat in that trailer and felt like spiders were crawling all over him and he shook.

After that life was very different. Things became very good, not just for me, but also for my parents. My dad found new passions in woodworking and furniture crafting, whereas before he was simply a carpenter that did what he needed to do in order to get the money for some more alcohol.

I witnessed first hand the improvement in their lives. They both still smoked marijuana the Schedule 1 Drug. What a joke... if you want to know which one is legal and way worse there is no comparison. Alcohol is far worse.

So yes for a long period of my life I was very anti-alcohol. I hated it. I'd use it to fuel speeches in Public Speaking and Critical Thinking and many other things. I was also the epitome of showing that someone could be wild, and fun to be around without needing drugs or alcohol. I was invited to pretty much every party. I didn't go to all of them, but I would occasionally.

I think it was because I was young and naive (now I am old and still naive) but I still could carry on conversations about all manner of things just like I post here. I'd like to believe I have improved with experience and I'd also like to believe that though I am still naive, that I am simply naive about other things. :)

I no longer advocate banning of any substance. I believe people should be able to do whatever they want with THEIR body, but they also must be responsible for the consequences of their choices. Deal with what happens, rather than trying to FORCE people to live a certain way. Yes, I've changed.

I even helped run a liquor store a few times for some clients when I was a computer consultant. I remember noticing the large variety of drinks and being curious. I've only had wine, wine cooler, champaign, beer, and peppermint schnapps in my life. Anything else I have zero clue what that taste like. So I get curious, but there are other reasons I do not partake of alcohol.

I am okay with people drinking, as long as they are responsible. What happens or does not happen is on them. As such I even joke about them today. On slack and with co-workers I shared or interacted with the following memes related to alcohol today.

Though the one that actually made me think of writing this post was the following one...

That one actually is inaccurate for me. I am fairly certain if I drank enough alcohol to actually get drunk (I have never been drunk or hungover) that I could easily end up in prison.

I am very familiar that alcohol can be great at lowering inhibitions. This might help some people. For all I know it might even help me as long as I didn't cross that line into drunkeness.

You see not all inhibitions are bad. Some of them are in place for very good reason. When I was very young I enjoyed the few fights I was in. I didn't go out of my way to start them, but I can say I enjoyed them. I also had a few times in my life I literally saw red and truly realized I had the potential to be dangerous. That was due to me bottling up anger. I stopped doing that and I've never been close to the seeing red again.

It did make me realize that dropping my inhibitions might not be a good thing.

My dad could be a raging violent asshole depending upon which alcohol he drank. Later in life people couldn't imagine him as such. In fact if I said he could be like that they'd look at me like I grew two heads.

People that know me would also be surprised if you said I was violent or aggressive. I am not. I do worry though that without my inhibitions I could be. Thus, I am content not to drink. Though I am curious and a little jealous about the sheer variety of flavors I am likely never to experience.