Wednesday, August 28, 2024

In Praise of Occasional or Moderate Drunkenness

 What School Didn't Teach Us: You Need To Lose Control, by Kat Rosenfeld.  Not the usual posting here, but I see the sense of it.

There’s a scene I love, toward the end of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, after the adventure is over and ordinary life has begun anew: Our heroes, Frodo and Sam and Pippin and Merry, are drinking at the local pub, when Sam spots a girl across the room who he’s admired from afar all his life. Something flickers across his face, equal parts desire and determination; this is his moment, his destiny. 

But before Sam makes his move, he does one more thing: He throws back his pint.

I was surprised that she did not reference the book Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization.

I worked with alcoholics and addicts for over forty years, and saw how substances complicate mental illness. 

She's still right.

1 comment:

  1. GKC pointed out that the most dangerous justification for drinking was that it might promote health; for why wouldn't one wish to be healthy all the time, if it was so easily within one's power?

    I suppose that's true for mental health as well as physical health. I agree entirely with the author's point, but recognize that 'occasional' and 'moderate' are the hard parts.

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