"Rethink the Drink" advice by The Persian Irish!
Going on vacation this summer? Plan to take a long sip at your favorite watering hole? Recently, I had a “mini-vaca” with my bestest pal. We got caught up on everything... and gave voice to much of the unspoken, undiscovered thoughts --- and all without a bottle of wine.
So, eventually, our tongues got wagging about drinking. What you drink, how much, with who and under what circumstances. For us, growing up in America, alcohol was just another thread in the social fabric of our lives. The question was not if you drank, but what you drank. If you didn't drink, then why? Are you an alcoholic? It seems antithetical to defend myself for not drinking. I need a reason to explain it to friends and family who imbibe. Since I come from an Irish background, one assumes it stems from that particular branch of the family; but it didn’t. Yes, my grandmother did own a bar and there is a pub attached to nearly every church in the homeland. Yet, every family has a spirit hanging in the wine cellar and mine is no exception. Yours too, I’m certain.
With much support and debate from my husband, I came to reflect on my own sobriety. The question arose, am I able to do without what the Irish call, uisce beatha or water of life? Fortunately, I was and am still able to resist the lively water. Others were not so fortunate. My cousin couldn’t do it and my friend’s brother-in-law couldn’t do it, and the list ensues. They are all dead now. As if I needed more evidence, the sociologist in me looked at the detriment to society and the demise of families. In 2011, the World Health Organization reported that 2.5 million deaths world-wide are attributed to alcohol abuse. So for me, giving up the drink was akin to giving up smoking – once I tackled it, I was free from its grasp. But pulling up the vines of wine is not so easy for humankind, some would say not possible or adaptive at all. Read on…
In researching this article, I realized how ancient and enduring alcohol is to us all. The first beers, which predates wine, which predates alchohol, goes way back, nearly 4000 years BC. Some of the drinking arose from a distrust of the water. Well, alcohol takes care of that particular sanitation problem. But that was a convenient excuse. We have a long enduring affair with lively water. The Arabs coined the word alcohol and while there is some discussion on who first distilled it - the Indians or Arabs... it happened around the 8th century. One source also has our Persian chemists later perfecting the process. And how many of us knew alcohol was an Eastern export to Europe during the 12th century? Apparently, now the reverse is in motion... Alcohol is being smuggled into Iran or being fermented at home in such great quantities, that Iran health officials are now giving voice to the rise in alcoholism.
So is it worth it? Are you open to at least thinking about it? Most aren’t. I found it taboo to even mention it to some folks. You can see how others think in Kodoom's Quick Poll this week. If you or someone you know wants to get “on the wagon”, see the 2010 guide by the National Institute of Health, "Rethinking your Drinking." and Cheers, Sláinte or Be sala'mati!
Blog by The Persian irish
