Social Evils

Alcohol Promises Heaven Alcohol Bestows Hell Fr Jacob Eeranat

"I make the resolution every now and then to stop drinking. But I cannot stop it. I am desperate. No one has any compassion for me. It’s no use living". So speaks the alcoholic quite often. With every alcoholic atleast five or six people and even some families are destroyed. Soon these drunkards, after having destroyed others, end their lives in suicide or on the executioner’s table.

Alcoholism a disease

This is an individual disease. If you drink you will be destroyed. And so will your family members and others The whole world will hate you. Companions will desert you. To curse society then is of no use whatsoever.

The alcoholic becomes vulnerable to the "sulath" that it bestows on the addict. No one can predict in the beginning how much the alcoholic will drink. The more he drinks, the greater is his desire and excitement, specially in the company of friends who encourage this excitement... The physical operations of his body are out of gear. The possibility of death due to pancreastitis increases by 50 percent. Good social conditions are destroyed. There is no specific remedy for drinking. The best remedy is never to begin drinking for any reason whatsoever. Here is where parents have to be careful; where teachers have to set the example. Alcoholic teachers are a curse to the nation.

Alcoholism is a contagious disease
Any sickness that afflicts millions of people can be called a contagious sickness. Researchers assert that the most terrible sickness after cancer, heart disease and AIDS is alcoholism.

The life span of an alcoholic decreases by 10-12 years.
15-20 per cent of patients in the hospitals are those whose sickness is the result of alcoholism.
30-35 per cent of suicides
10-15 per cent of murders
50 per cent of traffic accidents
20-25 per cent of divorces and
90 per cent of prostitutes are connected with the drinking habit.

The harm caused to students, the moral degradation of officials and the fall of those in high positions through drinking and addiction are astounding.

How to detect dangerous addiction to alcohol Ten Questions

1 Do you have an intense desire to drink at any time of the day?

2 When alcohol is available , do you have the desire to consume it greedily and ask for more?

3 Is it to escape from an inferiority complex that you drink?

4 Is it to be delivered from mental anguish and to get rid of grief that you drink?

5 Is it to ‘shine’ and be energetic when you are tired that you drink?

6 Does drinking destroy your mental peace and balance?

7 Does drinking cause fear, resentment or contempt in your family members and destroy family harmony?

8 Are you inclined to drink and eat by yourself savouring each drop and each morsel?

9 While enjoying your drink, do you keep thinking of the next chance to indulge in the same act?

10 Do you neglect the work you have to finish because of drinking?

Excusing yourself is of no use
You cannot bear the wife’s nagging. You cannot bear the trouble from the children. You cannot bear the thought of debts incurred. There are grown up girls in the house. The family is deteriorating. You cannot bear to think of these sorrows. But try to justify your drinking habits with such excuses. It is either cowardice or defiance or escapism. What will be the state if other family members begin drinking like you? ( Of late women and sons have taken to drinking to counter the assaults of husbands and father - with the result - utter destruction). What reply do you have to give?

Though alcoholism is a social evil, as far as you are concerned, it is an individual disease. It is danger. If you drink you will be destroyed. Your family members will also be destroyed. The world will blame you, clap their hands and ridicule you. Your family, relatives, friends and countrymen will forsake you. Society will write you off. What loss does your destruction bring to them?

Other consequences
Alcohol which goes down the gullet producing a pleasurable sensation, sucks up the mucuous layer in the intestines. In the effort to slip into the weightlessness of the unconscious state, alcoholics are not aware of this situation. This is how "gastritis" commonly seen in alcoholics, begins. Burning in the intestines, nausea and bleeding are the consequences. Ulcers are also caused by this same evil habit. Those who drink heavily are prone to contract cancer. Uncontrollable alcoholism accompanied by smoking, increases the possibility of intestinal cancer tenfold. If gangrene sets in, amputation of limbs becomes absolutely necessary!!

Headaches, thirst, mental and physical imbalance, muscle pain, restlessness from unknown causes - such consequences of drinking may last for 24 hours at a stretch. Constant drinking will cause heavy injury to the bodily organs. The cells in the mouth and gullet gradually deteriorate and cause cancer. The heart and liver weaken. Unconsciousness and brain injury will be the ultimate result.

Good desires alone are not enough
If you sincerely desire to drink no more and to stop smoking and the use of drugs to prevent their dire consequences in the family, you must resolve never to touch alcohol or drugs. And you must notify this to your family, you must humbly give the permission and authority to the senior members of the family to control and reprove you.

Road accidents due to alcoholism

Most of the day to day accidents are caused by drivers who are drunk. According to the latest national survey, Kerala is the state which has the maximum number of road accidents. Students and youngsters form 90% of those who ride scooters and motor cycles. Their antics in an intoxicated state, cause great harm to others. The financial loss incurred through road accidents is immense. We have read about the loss of lives from plane crashes caused by drunken pilots. on January Ist 1992, the plane Emperor Ashoka, bound for London, took off from Bombay only to crash into the sea, destroying hundreds of passengers because the pilot had celebrated New Year on the previous night!! What a great amount of money has been wasted by motor accidents!