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.. Don't be a Dick.
You know how that phrase goes. I have nothing against alcohol.. I love getting tipsy every once in a while. It doesn't take a lot to be off alcohol, it takes a lot more to keep moderation.. to not cross the line. A friend of mine who also feels strongly bout Alcoholism has written an article which I'd like to share.. I'm not hoping to "cure" ppl off addiction or strike a thunder of self realization.. but one will at least think twice before acting reckless Today after reading this. So here goes..
“Alcohol can kill”... sounds very cliché yet rings very true. I write this as a house surgeon at Gandhi who has seen things up close. While posted in medicine, the countless cases of alcoholism and its many effects (including cirrhosis of liver, stroke, alcoholic dependence with psychosis) seen did sadden me, but they were treated as cases and forgotten about.
Moving onto casualty, the scenario was totally different. Number of young people brought dead or almost dead due to road traffic accidents caused under the influence of a drink too many, inebriation and the oh-so-beloved high of alcohol did touch me but the impact wasn’t hard enough, to make me want do something to help. When many a pleas and punishments couldn’t drive sense into these reckless, living for the moment souls, how could I make a difference was the placid consolation that I gave myself.
Night duty at casualty, what with the building overflowing with drunkards, cops, victims of RTA’s, the stench it all brings and tackling it all when you fighting sleep; wouldn’t be anyone’s favourite duties. Thursday night wasn’t any different, declaring some dead, trying to save the others takes getting used to; especially when you haven’t yet created a perfect shield that protect your emotions from getting involved. Like I was saying just another night, while I was busy checking on some other emergency case, two young boys were rushed in by the emergency medical personnel; one of them was being declared dead by my colleague, the other was drowsy yet vitals stable. Talk about rich kids drunk and involved in a car accident was floating around. Busy as we were, none of us did really bother with the details.
The friends, who were sloshed to the core, couldn’t reach his family. When a few words uttered by his friends caught my attention, made me realise that it might be someone I know and through an eerie coincidence it was. One look at the boy sent a chill through my spine; young all of twenty, lying covered partly in blood, his jet-black hair shining and his face so innocent and fresh left me shaking. For now this wasn’t another brought dead cases, this was a son lost from dear father, a sister no longer had a brother she adored and idolised, a grandma could no longer cuddle her only grandson, a young and fiery soul lost to this world. The shield that I was trying so hard to build was shattered and so was I.
Reasons that they give are many and varied. Some do it for kicks, some love the feel, some others think its haute couture, and many think it’s a fashion statement and “what the heck everybody else is doing it, I have the bucks and nobody to stop me”. All of them know that this simply for a high addiction will create havoc in their life or maybe even in death but nobody gives a damn, cause it can happen but it hasn’t, has it, at least not to them.
I write this, not as a lecture with a title alcohol and drunken driving kills, not as a plea and I have no power to punish for an offence so great. The decision is ours; the facts are out there. I’m just hoping we still have some sense left.
Sudeepta here, who cares.
P.S-thanks for reading the whole thing... it did take some patience on your part. Please pass it on from my side if you like.
“Alcohol can kill”... sounds very cliché yet rings very true. I write this as a house surgeon at Gandhi who has seen things up close. While posted in medicine, the countless cases of alcoholism and its many effects (including cirrhosis of liver, stroke, alcoholic dependence with psychosis) seen did sadden me, but they were treated as cases and forgotten about.
Moving onto casualty, the scenario was totally different. Number of young people brought dead or almost dead due to road traffic accidents caused under the influence of a drink too many, inebriation and the oh-so-beloved high of alcohol did touch me but the impact wasn’t hard enough, to make me want do something to help. When many a pleas and punishments couldn’t drive sense into these reckless, living for the moment souls, how could I make a difference was the placid consolation that I gave myself.
Night duty at casualty, what with the building overflowing with drunkards, cops, victims of RTA’s, the stench it all brings and tackling it all when you fighting sleep; wouldn’t be anyone’s favourite duties. Thursday night wasn’t any different, declaring some dead, trying to save the others takes getting used to; especially when you haven’t yet created a perfect shield that protect your emotions from getting involved. Like I was saying just another night, while I was busy checking on some other emergency case, two young boys were rushed in by the emergency medical personnel; one of them was being declared dead by my colleague, the other was drowsy yet vitals stable. Talk about rich kids drunk and involved in a car accident was floating around. Busy as we were, none of us did really bother with the details.
The friends, who were sloshed to the core, couldn’t reach his family. When a few words uttered by his friends caught my attention, made me realise that it might be someone I know and through an eerie coincidence it was. One look at the boy sent a chill through my spine; young all of twenty, lying covered partly in blood, his jet-black hair shining and his face so innocent and fresh left me shaking. For now this wasn’t another brought dead cases, this was a son lost from dear father, a sister no longer had a brother she adored and idolised, a grandma could no longer cuddle her only grandson, a young and fiery soul lost to this world. The shield that I was trying so hard to build was shattered and so was I.
Reasons that they give are many and varied. Some do it for kicks, some love the feel, some others think its haute couture, and many think it’s a fashion statement and “what the heck everybody else is doing it, I have the bucks and nobody to stop me”. All of them know that this simply for a high addiction will create havoc in their life or maybe even in death but nobody gives a damn, cause it can happen but it hasn’t, has it, at least not to them.
I write this, not as a lecture with a title alcohol and drunken driving kills, not as a plea and I have no power to punish for an offence so great. The decision is ours; the facts are out there. I’m just hoping we still have some sense left.
Sudeepta here, who cares.
P.S-thanks for reading the whole thing... it did take some patience on your part. Please pass it on from my side if you like.
