A teetotaler's letter to an alcoholic friend

by Aditha Dissanayake

After observing you and your friends at the Club on Friday, I thought I should write this letter to you. Specially when I realized, now that it's June, the month of weddings, you will be facing one of the most taxing of 'party' dilemmas' what to drink and how much.

I know when you saw the word 'drink' you made a face and said to yourself 'Here it is. Here comes the sermon'. No. I am not going to preach. These are merely the sober observations of someone who has watched you and your friends giving way to that liquid refreshment called pol, gal, extra special' or whatever, at the Club.

Last Friday night as I watched you gulp glass after glass of that potent chemical named alcohol I felt that you were determined to forget everything, including your own name, before midnight. Indeed, by the time the band folded up at 3.30 in the morning you could barely stand on your feet, and you had begun to crack jokes with your friends which weren't really funny.

I felt sad when I realized it was only when you had a glass of liquor in your hand that you seemed relaxed and comfortable with your surroundings, and strangely with yourself too. Before you started drinking you were shy and awkward and at a loss with everything around you. But after one or two drinks you changed' the alcohol seemed to have given you, as the saying goes, 'Dutch courage', loosened your tongue, made you feel less self conscious.

I could be wrong. Perhaps as you said the other day, you drink because it amuses you. In your own words 'For the thrill of it'. But, do you realize, whatever the reasons might be that compel you to consume that golden colored liquid so eagerly, might be, that alcohol is a drug' Any doctor will tell you of how alcohol slows down the higher centre of your brain and numbs all your faculties of reasoning and judgment.

Science apart I know you would have had a terrible hangover the following day, that you would have hurt your girlfriend who does not wish to see you turning into an alcoholic and that you wanted your parents to know nothing about your drinking spree.

I know the excuses you will give me for your behavior. 'Alcohol has become so much a part of our culture today'. You are right. I admit there is hardly a wedding, a birthday party, a funeral, or the celebration of a festival where alcohol is not the centre of attention.

You call this 'social drinking' and it's hard to build a case against it. For, alcohol has come to stay. There is no denying this fact. But, do you realize that whether to drink or not to drink depends on you, the individual'.

Time and time again, I have watched you trying to persuade others to drink by asking them not to be 'a sissy' or ?What do you mean you don't want another drink' But what you and the others who drink with you don't seem to realize is that there is nothing wrong in saying 'No'.

If the crowd around you is drinking when you don't want to, or is drinking more than you care to, don't hesitate to say no when the next round is offered. Don't be scared to be thought of as 'odd', when you know the drink in your hand will not make you feel dizzy or woozy or make you get involved in a fight or make you behave like an unsuccessful Andarei.

I know it is not easy to swim against the current. But believe me it does wonders to your ego when you realize you have the courage to say 'No'. When you refuse that glass of golden colored liquid with the fiery taste you will be saving yourself and your loved ones from the painful effects and problems that go hand in hand with alcohol.

Finally, even though you might get angry with me, I must say that I think it's stupid to get drunk and that it's twice as stupid to drink too much because that's what 'everybody else is doing'. So, come a wedding or a party, don't drink and lose your senses thinking tomorrow we die, because (alas) we never do.

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