The Truth, As I See It

What if, one day, you realized that your reality—the truth you had been fed and willingly accepted—was a lie?

What if those in a position of power through their words and images and actions told you, showed you and tried to prove to you that something was safe and acceptable when it really wasn’t?

What if you grew up watching those around you, who had bought into the lie like everyone else, engage in a daily ritual that causes physical, mental and spiritual harm?

What if you periodically questioned the way you felt, knowing it didn’t feel right, and wanting it to feel different, but when you looked around it was such a part of normal everyday life that you suppressed your questions, and yourself?

What if you learned of another truth, another reality, but the rest of your friends, family and society still believed the lie, and wanted to cling to their version of normal and fun?

What if you trusted yourself and those other voices scattered around the periphery? Voices that explained that this substance seen by society as beneficial, necessary and life-giving is really poisonous, addictive and life-destroying. That this widely ingested substance—alcohol—contains the same chemical (ethanol) you use to fuel your car, and when consumed regularly and increasingly over time, damages your health, your relationships and your sense of self. That once you slide down the slippery slope of “too much” your own brain works against you and your wellbeing to justify the lie.

What if you decided that, however hard it was, you were not going to buy the lie any longer, but you were going to search out, find, and cling to your own truth?

What if this new truth allowed you to see that just because people in a position of influence spend billions of dollars to sell society on the idea that alcohol is fun, sexy, relaxing and necessary does not change the fact that it is a highly addictive drug responsible for 88,000 deaths in America each year?

And to what end? Profits?

We decry the risks of second-hand smoke, not wearing a seatbelt, and other “unhealthy behaviors” when we promote the very substance that is the third cause of preventable deaths in this country, surpassed only by tobacco and poor diet/lack of exercise. As a society, we gradually evolved and no longer glamorize smoking. But drinking? Break out the bubbly it’s time to celebrate!

The truth is, once you see the reality and stop buying the lie, you become different.  You want the truth to spread and the lie to be exposed. You realize people’s lives are at stake, maybe even your own, and you want better for yourself, your families, your communities, your world. Promoting a poisonous, addictive product just so someone can make a buck is sad and irresponsible at best, and at worst, deadly.

I no longer believe that drinking is fun, or sexy, or relaxing, or helpful in any way. Harmful? In a thousand different ways.  I am thankful for the truth as I see it, and that I set myself free from society’s version of who I should be and what I should be doing.