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"Alcohol - The Devil In The
Bottle"
Lessons
Learned
This
is
one of those across the isle things that people are very passionate
about. I bet there would be more uproar in the streets if Alcohol
were to be made illegal, than guns, abortion and homosexuality
combined.
It was years back that a friend of two
years got behind the wheel of a car after
drinking and ended up in a serious car crash. I really trusted
this person and did not believe that my
then-friend would have gotten behind that wheel drunk. As a
matter of fact, I was the only one to defend this
person.
However, I did come to
realize during the ordeal that resulted in a
stay in rehab for a severe brain injury, that
drinking had impaired this person's judgment, whether
clinically drunk or not. I came to realize that if
it only takes one drink to impair a person's judgment, then a
person could drink another and another and another. The
possibilities are pretty much endless of what that person could
do.
I met
up with quite a bit of resistance while speaking with a long time
friend of this person about alcohol. The friend, who
had no problem trashing our "then" mutual friend, could
not grasp that if it only takes one drink to impair a person's
judgment then no drinker has room to talk, as this friend also
drank. Through the ordeal I learned that my
then-friend was surrounded by closet alcoholics, who
lashed out at this person as a human being, rather than blame
the drinking of alcohol. To do such, would mean they should all
stop drinking. Clearly it takes far less to be a form of
an alcoholic.
It was so sad how all of the
people close to this person drank and yet called this
person an alcoholic and spoke so ill of a person
who they were suppose to love, while the person was
still recovering from having nearly died. It was clear to me that
they were all trying to justify their own guilt and their own
drinking. It was also clear to me that people can be really
messed up.
The spouse even drank in the home and kept
alcohol there, as well. How a spouse justifies that behavior is
beyond my way of thinking. And no one talked as bad
about this person during the ordeal, than the
spouse did. It really freaked me out. The things that
were said were so horrid. It was a hard thing for me
to learn, that I had had no idea what these two people were
really like or the real illness that was behind this person's
drinking. Actually, I had no idea that people like this really
existed off of the big screen, and an entire group of them. My
husband was even shocked by all that transpired. --And not much
shocks my husband. Actually my husband rarely comments on anything,
but he did get to a point of telling me that this was one seriously
messed up group of people.
There
was even a bad minister and a bad lawyer too. My then-friend asked
me to talk to both of these people, because it was no secret that
the spouse (who prior to the car crash claimed to
be getting a divorce) was not visiting this
person in the rehab center, and yet was in charge of all of the
care-making decisions. Needless to say this person was very
scared. Actually it was more like begging me to call the
minister, which I was reluctant to do and did not want to do, but
for my then-friend, I did do. Both the minister and the lawyer
broke confidence and went to the spouse.
After the minister
went to the spouse, the spouse finally did go visit, but only to
push the brain-injured patient to the point of totally losing it,
which caused the rehab center to drug the patient up into a
barely living state and then to transfer the patient, who had
been recovering very well, into a nursing home. I believe
the patient would have stayed indefinitely, drugged up in that
nursing home, had I not gotten another person, an outside
person involved. I don't know if my
then-friend has ever been told that I got that person
involved, so that the spouse would see it was not going to stay a
secret, that people outside of their inner circle would find
out that this abused person was not being allowed to get
better.
In the end, this person did get
better and is even back to work. However, in the end I was
thrown under the buss by my then-friend and lied about in order to
keep that abusive spouse from going for the divorce. I
had been told two weeks prior to the accident that a
divorce would be too embaressing to deal with, that such
would mean failure in the eyes of those who were closest
to the couple. But I had no idea just how far this person would
go to stop the divorce from happening.
If ever you think that
a friend is drinking the troubles of a bad marriage, get away from
that person. You will get used, and you risk being thrown under
the buss, if such is what the abusive spouse demands. You see an
abusive spouse gets very upset at a friend who sympathizes for
the victim.
Let me put it to you this way, if one is
willing to stay with an abusive spouse to the point of hurting ones
own body, that person will not hesitate to hurt you. Alcohol is a
tool that is used by many victims of spousal abuse who
never face up to the evil that is in front of them that they are
actually allowing. And they hurt others, whether it be throwing
a friend under the buss or killing someone on the road.
Yes, alcohol is the devil in the bottle that many use
in an attempt to deal with the devil in this world. It is a sick
circle with an endless battle that some choose to stay
in.
Debra
J.M. Smith - ©
www.InformingChristians.com |
