I have a twofold attitude towards alcoholic drinks. In one sense I like alcoholic beverages. In fact, I like different types of alcoholic drinks. I like sweet and at the same time bitter Guinness. Also, I like the tart aftertaste of wine, a scalding sip of whiskey, and many other types.
I also like places where you can drink alcoholic beverages. I love the atmosphere and twilight of the pub filled with cigarette smoke, the good old blues playing softly as the bartender slowly wipes glasses at the counter. I even like the light headache that occurs as you wake up as it disappears with a cup of strong coffee.
On the flip side, I do not like drunk people when they turn into primitive animals. I am disgusted with drunk people who don’t behave themselves as they stumble around. I am even more disgusted when I do the same thing. Yes, I am not a saint – like everyone else, I also have weak moments. You can stone me if you want. I deserve it.
Have you heard the phrase “alcohol doesn’t help you find the answer, but it helps you forget the question”? For sure, It doesn’t help you find the answer if you are so drunk you can’t remember the question as well as your name. However, I believe drinking alcoholic beverages can help you find the answer and better understand reality. For example, it helps me to stop for a minute, think about my life and prioritize what is important and what is not. Alcohol also helps stimulate creative thinking I would not usually pursue. In fact, I began to write this text while sitting in a cozy pub, similar to the one I described above.
You should not drink to escape reality. First of all, it is a manifestation of weakness. Secondly, sooner or later you will have to face reality. If you drink to get rid of sadness, you will feel even worse after sobering up. If you drink to have fun, you will eventually forget how to have fun without drinking. You will forget how to have real feelings, and feelings are the best things in life – sincere joy, sincere love and even sincere sadness.
The author Charles Bukowski said that «drinking is a form of suicide where you’re allowed to return to life and begin all over the next day. It’s like killing yourself, and then you’re reborn.» Although I consider him one of the best writers of the twentieth century, I disagree with him. When you are reborn, you become new, a completely different person. When you drink yourself unconscious, the next morning you are the same person with the same problems, only in stained clothes with a sense of self-contempt. If you don’t have feelings of contempt, my congratulations, you are no longer a man.