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| Sunday, 11 May 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Musings of a ghost from the past by Prof. Suwanda H. J. Sugunasiri Illness is misery's company So is my discomfort with drinking only because of my personal upbringing? Or are there social ramifications? Is it merely a moral issue, drinking sans hypocrisy as an ideal. But, let us for a moment, take morality out of it. Are there any other concerns we should have? As coincidence would have it, here is something I read in the newspaper (Oct. 31, Toronto Star). "London (Reuters): Bad habits like drinking, smoking and overeating that were once the preserve of the rich are taking an increasing hold in developing nations, the ...WHO said yesterday." "While none of these [the list of 10 killers, in order of deadliness..: malnourishment, unsafe sex, high blood pressure, smoking, alcohol, bad water and poor sanitation, iron deficiency, smoke inhalation from indoor fires, high cholesterol and obesity] is new," continues the report, "the fact that tobacco, alcohol and cholesterol rank so high in a global survey is a big surprise." Is it, to you? Well, here's the evidence you were looking for, then, to re-think drinking, and if I may dare to pair, smoking. Is it comforting that misery (drinking) has found company (illness). Reason to be complacent? As the author of the Report, Chris Morris, told Reuter, "This report is a signpost on the road for public health policy." Anyone listening? Any implications for development? Alcohol does kill. When it consumes the internal organs like the liver. When one in a stupor, and/or anger, stabs you or takes a gun in hand.. When it finds its way into the hell's angels on the roads of Sri Lanka behind the wheels (as I discovered in my last visit in 1999). To misquote Anandawardhena, then, Anaucityaad na ca kevalam rasa bhangam. Impropriety, in drinking, not only ruins the taste, but also, through liver-vinasham decimation of the liver, saukhya-haanikaram ruining health, resulting in jivita bhangam 'loss of life', having also in the process brought about pawul-vinasham, family ruin, if also vastu vinasham 'loss of wealth'! If there are any lingering doubts about drinking, this just in: a news report (Toronto Star, Nov. 8, A27) , under the headline, "Just 2 drinks impair the 'oops' response", with a sub-headline, "Alcohol lowers brain's ability to catch errors, study says." The article begins with the words: "Just two glasses of wine can cloud a person's judgment so much that he does not even realize he is making errors, Dutch researchers reported yesterday." And you know what is popular in Sri Lanka. Wine? Sure! Whiskey for the rich, arakku for the bourgeoisie (hey, there's a word I haven't used in ages!), kasippu for the poor. Hard liquor, or soft liquor? The report continues the researchers' finding: "At a blood alcohol level of .04 per cent -the brain's 'oops' response stops working properly and people no longer realize they have made a mistake", this reached by drinking two glasses of wine [or, as the report later expands, two beers or two small servings of spirits] in less than an hour. The oops response is "when you make an overt error". Now you tell me. How fast did you say your friend, uncle, cousin, dad, mom, aunt, girl friend, boy-friend gulps down the amrtaya nectar? Well, here is something more to think about. "Women reach that point sooner." What did you put a check mark against? Sri Lankan women are unequal to, more equal than, more than equal to, men? If earlier, only dads brought misery upon family, now moms can do it, too. Sooner! And more, if we are to go by Canadian statistics. More young women now get lung cancer from smoking than ever before. Equality gone berserk? To make a final quote, "usually after a person makes an error, he or she slows down and works much more carefully", writes the reporter. "However", say the researchers, "after drinking alcohol this sort of control mode is diminished. It's almost gone." Now, combine the inhibition against public drinking and diminishing of the control mode, and... I rest my case. But, one more point. In Canada, drinking and driving is a criminal offence. Not just in the books, but actively pursued by the law enforcement officers, with slogans like, "Consider the consequences' and with on the spot breath-tests of drivers. And then there is the social practice of DD - designated driver, taking turns. S/he is the selfless one who foregoes the pleasure so friends, colleagues and members of the family may enjoy the evening. Any such practices in Sri Lanka? And, oh, by the way, how often do you read in the media stories like the ones I have just quoted from? Let's, then, put away the not-so-slightly discomforting fact of the state smiling all the way to the bank with each drink you take. Why not? The profit is handsome. The coffers go full. And who cares if you died, as long as the government provided the services - roads... to drive on, and ... to die on? And forget the international killing machines, a.k.a. the liquor and tobacco companies, who, yanked off the television screen in many a western country, including Canada, happily show their smiling drinking heroic faces, all the way to their international banks. And, of course, the politicians - no angels, mind you, just cut of the same cloth as you and me, don't mind a drink either. But it's not governments that drink. It's individuals. Whatever the governments may do or not do, it is in the hands of individuals. And I know, every individual has in them the great potential for goodness. Kusala citta, says the Abhidhamma. And I have no doubt that sooner or later, that sensible goodness is going to outweigh the insensible badness! Drinkers, and smokers, Not-so-Anonymous of Lanka, may I then be allowed to make an overseas plea? Could you please consider joining Alcoholics Anonymous International for thy healing? The Children of Lanka, the Mothers and Spouses of Lanka, are waiting for you to come home sober, just one day, if only to kick that bottle in your bedroom into smithereens, or more, to kick that habit, once and for all. The WHO - World Health Organization, will garland you, towards development, for your bravado in coming home sans the two drinks that impair your ability to think straight, never mind walk straight. And for sparing second-hand smoke inhalation that might kill your spouse and child. Perhaps the nation can benefit from your well-trained brains and minds, and the amazing will-power you've just harnessed! Mother Lanka awaits to embrace you...! (Concluded) |
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