7 Things Wrong With The World * Day 5 - ALCOHOL
Back to the 50s
7 Things Wrong With The World In 7 Days
This problem in the world isn't anything new. Alcohol has been around for many, many years. I believe what the author is trying to say is that humans have the tendency to overindulge in just about everything, in this particular instance it is alcohol. John Holcroft did a really good job on this one. Alcohol does a superb job of impairing ones judgement. It can certainly change the outlook that the drinker has on themselves and the world around them. Have you ever heard the term "beer googles"?
beer gog·gles
nouninformal
plural noun: beer goggles
used to refer to the supposed influence of alcohol on one's visual perception, whereby one is sexually attracted to people who would not otherwise be appealing
The more ya know, right?
On a more serious note, more than 80,000 people die each year in the United States from alcohol- related deaths, 6 people die everyday from alcohol poisoning. Around 4,700 teenagers die each year because of alcohol and more than 15 million struggle with alcoholism. This next statistic has my father included in it- more than 30% of all driving fatalities are due to alcohol-impairment.
October 5, 2005 at around 5:30 am, my aunt called to speak to my mom. It was extremely unusual for her to call but at 13, I didn't think anything of it. My mom was still sleeping as I was up getting ready for school, I wake her up to hand her the phone and I continue with my morning routine. A few minutes later my mom is hysterically crying and asked me to sit down with her. She tells me that my aunt called to inform us that my father was killed a few hours previous to this phone call. I was in so much shock that I cried for a few minutes, got up and went to grab my things for school. The school bus came and I got on it. At this point, I'm crying non-stop. I never even gave my mother the chance to tell me how my father had passed away.
I remember getting off the bus and my friend ran up to me, hugged me and told me that she heard about my father on the news before she came to school. I asked her how he passed away, that's when she informed me that he was in a car accident. I later found out that my dad had been drinking with a buddy of his, he asked his friend to drive him home. His friend was drunk as well and told him no, he didn't want to be responsible for anything going wrong but he invited my dad to stay at his place. My father declined and attempted to drive home, he was 5 minutes from his home but he never made it around the sharp turn. He flipped his truck off a small cliff and did not have his seat belt on. My father was ejected from the vehicle through the windshield.
Alcohol continues to be one of the nation's most preventable cause of death
Have a safe and happy weekend, Steemians!
Wow. That's a lot for anyone to deal with, let alone a thirteen year old kid. I used to party drink a lot but never did drink and drive. As drunk as I got, I still could remember all of the people I knew that were killed from drinking and driving. Thanks for the post.
Sorry, I didn't see that the vote and comment are supposed to go in the contest. I'll fix it.
Thanks for stopping by and reading it! When I was younger we would always have at least one person not drink whenever we went out, that way they could drive. It is very risky when a person drinks and then feels that they should drive.
That's a tough thing to go through.
Thanks! I really appreciate it
You know, after a particularly bad hangover (I seldomly drink) in December I haven’t had even a sip of beer or wine...and it’s been great. I don’t honestly know when or if I’ll be drinking again. I don’t always like the person who I am when I’m tipsy.
I'm right there with you. In the past I was a frequent drinker, it turned me into something I never wanted to be. I got cronic pancreatitis twice at age 18 and several acute episodes after that. Drinking is the main cause of pancreatitis or it can cause pancreatitis every time you drink once you have had it once. Needless to say, my drinking days are complelty over. I wouldn't mind occasionally being able to have a glass of wine but it just isn't worth a hospital trip! It sucks you had to go through a hangover but I'm glad you have chose to drink responsibly:)