Rethinking Lifestyle

The use of alcohol was never an issue in my growing-up years. Being from a poor family with an invalid father, the purchasing of alcohol was never entertained, at least not to my knowledge. What we did do, under Dad’s direction, was make dandelion wine from thousands of dandelion flowers we had to pick! The taste didn’t entice any of us to want to drink any amount, so there was no concern about becoming intoxicated.

The churches and Sunday-schools of Steinbach that we intermittently attended growing up, did take a stand against the consumption of alcohol, referencing it as ‘sin’ and of the devil.

In my teenage years I began to formulate my own reasoning and decision-making regarding the use of alcohol. It wasn’t difficult to resolve, at quite an early age, that there was no place for ‘drunkenness’ in my life. The evidence of its destructiveness was everywhere. To combine alcohol consumption with driving a car, for example, was obscene! What about other decisions we might make when alcohol impacts our brain’s functioning? The results could be equally destructive. Good decision-making requires informed, clear-headed analysis of the considerations that pertain.

As a brash young fellow of 17, just out of grade XI in 1953, I was suddenly vaulted into a teaching position in a one-room country school – Arondale, North of Dufresne. I was suddenly deemed ‘responsible’. What would I do? I wasn’t ready for this. This was a signature moment for me, a moment to start thinking responsibly.

Some ten years later I was teaching a large class of Grade six to eight students in Grunthal. I was very impressed by their maturity and goodwill and we enjoyed a great relationship. How disappointing, though, at the time, seeing their older brothers and sisters next door in the high school, seemingly obsessed with boozing and partying. To think that I would be promoting my great students into this ‘environment’. Tragically, that year, one of the grads lost his life in a traffic accident following the party after his graduation. This was too much for me! I resolved then and there, perhaps because I was a teacher, that I would never indulge in consuming alcohol. This was my second signature moment regarding responsibility and the consumption of alcohol.

I could end my story here, but so far, I’ve only been referencing the dire effects alcohol has on the brain and decision-making. What about the effects consuming alcohol has on our physical bodies? Alcohol is a carcinogen. Like tobacco smoke, another carcinogen, it attacks human tissue and makes it vulnerable to a variety of diseases, including the most dreaded, cancer. This tissue attack, though much more subtle and camouflaged, is as great a scourge as the mental concerns referenced above. Medical scientists are more and more learning and acknowledging the impacts alcohol consumption is having on our physical bodies. The extreme toll the consumption of alcohol is taking on both our minds and bodies – in terms of human suffering, healthcare needs, costs and deaths – is mind-boggling!

So, what can we do about it? The obvious answer is “change our lifestyles”. This may or may not be easy. Stop or greatly reduce our intake of carcinogens. For some, of course, this could be very difficult but not impossible. Help is available. For others, like me, this abstinence I’ve practiced may have been awkward at times, but the rewards and benefits I’ve experienced, are immeasurably positive. Thanks to all that stood by me along the way.

At 88, the good health, ‘visioning’ and mobility I still enjoy, must be at least partly attributable to my alcohol-free lifestyle. I highly recommend it.

With hope…