For so long I thought I was one of the best at partying. I was the regular mixologist at the basement soirees at college. I could drink anyone under the table in New York, especially if it was vodka. Now I go to a party and just watch drunk people crying, fighting and just being stupid and I just wish I would have spent my evening at a chod ceremony or yoga class where I could actually come back a little closer to the truth. Why does everyone always want to escape reality and then say that they are on a quest for truth? I had one such party experience last Friday that made me never want to touch a drop of alcohol nor spend a weekend ever with someone who does. I truly think it is poison now and understand a little more why so many who’ve had their lives touched by it, including me, would loath the sight of it so much. I also understand a little more why there is a whole world religion which effectively bans it. Interestingly, the word alcohol actually comes from an Arabic word meaning something like the spirit or demon (al-ġawl).
“Satan’s plan is yet but to excite enmity and hatred, between you, with intoxicants, And gambling and hinder you, from the remembrance Of God and from prayer, will ye not then abstain?”
~Qu’ran 5:93
I would have scoffed at such conventionally religious sentiments last week. Even so, I realize it can also be translated into universal ideals. Getting intoxicated is in fact a hindrance from realizing the almighty within. And how can you reach the true heaven in this life if you waste all the potential moments drinking or with people who are drunk?
So that’s it, yes wine and beer can both be medicinal and have been used for centuries in rituals both bleak and jolly, but really how often has their consumption resulted in benefit rather than destruction? Now to explain my title, Uganda, one of the very poorest countries in Africa has the highest drinking rate. The average Ugandan drinks almost 20 liters of spirit per year compared to Americans’ measly eight-and-a-half. I don’t know why but I’m sure there are good reasons. There always are. But after this weekend’s display of enmity and hatred, I haven’t got one.
