THE COST OF A DRINK

Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whosoever is led astray by it is not wise (Proverbs 20:1).

Former Iowa governor and senator, Harold Hughes, who was an alcoholic himself, said, If politicians ignored any other disease that affected as many young people, put as many people in jail and caused as many deaths on the highway as alcoholism and chemical dependency, Americans would tar and feather them. But because it's alcohol and chemical dependency, we do nothing, absolutely nothing.

According to Iowa Parole Board statistics, 95 percent of the cases it handles have a connection with alcohol and chemical dependency. Furthermore, 85 percent of all crimes in America are committed under the influence of alcohol.

Though I have never knowingly tasted an alcoholic beverage, I always drink the kid's punch, I have had enough experience with it to know that alcohol consumption is bad news. I remember counseling a woman whose husband would drink and then beat her up. I remember having to awaken a young wife at 1:00 a.m. and tell her that her husband had been killed in an automobile accident caused by alcohol abuse. I remember the town alcoholic, who literally drank up a fortune, dying of cirrhosis--he was my uncle. Not one of those who sold him all of that alcohol came to his funeral.

The cost of a drink is more than its price. The real cost is the millions of lives that are damaged and destroyed by alcohol each year. The one who leaves it alone is wise.

Grace&Peace,
Tom