I’m not a big fan of drunken behavior. In all honesty, I tend to find it somewhat appalling these days whenever I see someone in public who’s incredibly intoxicated. Just the other day in fact I observed this very thing at a local dining establishment between two 30-something guys seated at a bar across from each other.
It all started at this Mexican restaurant my partner and I opted to dine at near the end of an evening. We had been seated in a booth near the bar and had just got done ordering when these two guys began loudly arguing with each other. At first I thought they were only joking around, but in no time at all, there were throwing verbal threats towards each other. Eventually their egos became so aroused that each one of them started saying they were going to take the other down in quick fashion through some good old fashioned fisticuffs. (I purposely am using the word fisticuffs here because of how funny I found it watching some of my old drunken behaviors.)
Anyway, as their tensions escalated and it began to appear the two were going to brawl right there in the restaurant, a male manager immediately swept in and took one of the guys outside hoping to calm him down. Meanwhile the other guy remained inside and was being consoled by a female bartender. A short bit later when the other guy returned inside, I watched as both he and the other swore they had only had a few drinks and weren’t drunk. Each claimed their problem was with the other, which in turn raised tensions all over again.
Several patrons dining in booths near us then became involved by giving hugs and having them sit down with them in separate booths. Eventually, when everything finally calmed back down, both guys were offering to buy drinks for everyone. Then came their final act as one stumbled out of the restaurant, having had to hitch a ride home from one of those patrons, while the other fell to the floor and began professing how much he loved everyone.
All of these drunken behaviors were a mere fraction of the things I once did to excess every single time I consumed alcohol back in the day. Ironically, I never knew just how embarrassing I was to everyone else when I did that, simply because I was so intoxicated during it all. Usually my drunken evenings ended up in blackouts where I never remembered much of the prior evenings anyway.
But seeing these two guys go through all my former stages of drunkenness during the course of thirty minutes or so, reminded me why I became clean and sober in the first place. It reminded me why I stick to my 12 Step recovery program, even after 21 years of sobriety from alcohol. But most important, it also reminded me how grateful I am to God that I’m not in those guys’ shoes anymore. Because at least I know that when tomorrow comes, I’m not going to be annoyed by a terrible hangover or consumed with regret and sorrow…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson