Alcoholism

When did alcoholism become a disease instead of a lack of self control? This is one of the questions that keeps me from getting a good nights sleep. Before every person in a program starts raining down on me, catch your breath. I have spent a good part of my life around people in recovery. (It's amazing how even the jargon seeps into your life) My father was a recovering alcoholic for the last 15 years of his life. A variety of his girlfriends had been involved with al-anon at some point or other. But my Dad was the first to admit the problem was his and his alone. It wasn't a genetic predisposition that he had. It wasn't because he had some underlying psychosis that he couldn't control. My Dad couldn't stop drinking once he started, and that made his life unmanageable. He told me many times of the moment that he realized that he was not in control when he was drinking. He said he came to, in his truck, with the engine running. He had a full tank of gasoline and he was over a hundred miles from his home. He had no idea how he got there, what he did before that, or anything else about the event. The last thing he did remember was 30 hours before that when he had just clocked out of work. That was what it took to sober my Dad. In all the time after that, I only saw him take one drink, ever. And that was when we had gone out to dinner to celebrate a particularly horrible woman moving out of my Father's life. But I have seen alcoholics in other places, too. The hardest part is watching the person who takes care of them. The jargon is an enabler. It is very hard to watch when the enabler is someone that you love very much. The only thing that I can suggest is that you leave a few brochures about al-anon setting around for them to find. I can't say that it will help, but one thing from all the jargon is very true. You can't help someone before they want to be helped. And I'll bet you thought I was going to stay off topic, didn't you? Well, here we are. The same can be said about Walmart. The company as a whole will not stop doing the things that they are getting away with until it isn't financially feasible for them. As long as people put up with cheap crap from China, and don't patronize their local merchants, Walmart will flourish. It is kind of handy to get everything at one place, but I also like going to the butcher shop for my meat. Not only do I get very personalized service (trimmed fat, great recipes, etc.) but I know that I am doing something to keep the local economy succeeding. See if you can't find a few local shops to buy at least some of your groceries. You'll thank me later.