When did my social group go from being the interesting people who had better things to do than booze up to being the all booze all the time gang?
It's not that I think no one should ever drink. I like going to big drunken parties from time to time. Sometimes I like to drink with dinner. Sometimes I just feel like having a drink when I'm hanging around. However, over the past few weeks I've seen people who used to be intermittent social drinkers boozing up 3-4 times a week, drinking on work nights, and drinking alone. It's fucking scary. Responsible use of alcohol has gone out the window and I am watching people do really stupid and dangerous things. We've had people drive home from parties not entirely sober because the driver didn't want to give up drinking that night. I've seen people saying to their friends "you're not drunk enough" and shoving bottles in those people's faces. All the stuff I tried to avoid by not hanging out with fraternities in college is happening with a bunch of supposedly more mature people. Why? Apparently because they can now. I'm starting to think the only difference between most of us, and those frat boys in college is that we didn't know where to get the alcohol without a legal ID.
This is fucking scary. Alcoholism may take a LONG time to develop, but it only takes one night of getting everyone in a car drunk, and trying to drive home to kill maybe 5 of my friends. It only takes one bad binge to land someone in a coma.
It's not like I don't drink, though illness prevents me from doing so right now. I do. I even get fairly drunk sometimes. I've loosened up a great deal lately in terms of what I consider to be responsible drinking habits. I can only loosen so far. Some of this stuff is just plain scary.
It's not that I think no one should ever drink. I like going to big drunken parties from time to time. Sometimes I like to drink with dinner. Sometimes I just feel like having a drink when I'm hanging around. However, over the past few weeks I've seen people who used to be intermittent social drinkers boozing up 3-4 times a week, drinking on work nights, and drinking alone. It's fucking scary. Responsible use of alcohol has gone out the window and I am watching people do really stupid and dangerous things. We've had people drive home from parties not entirely sober because the driver didn't want to give up drinking that night. I've seen people saying to their friends "you're not drunk enough" and shoving bottles in those people's faces. All the stuff I tried to avoid by not hanging out with fraternities in college is happening with a bunch of supposedly more mature people. Why? Apparently because they can now. I'm starting to think the only difference between most of us, and those frat boys in college is that we didn't know where to get the alcohol without a legal ID.
This is fucking scary. Alcoholism may take a LONG time to develop, but it only takes one night of getting everyone in a car drunk, and trying to drive home to kill maybe 5 of my friends. It only takes one bad binge to land someone in a coma.
It's not like I don't drink, though illness prevents me from doing so right now. I do. I even get fairly drunk sometimes. I've loosened up a great deal lately in terms of what I consider to be responsible drinking habits. I can only loosen so far. Some of this stuff is just plain scary.