Alcohol in our society

Life's been a bit difficult for a non-drinker like me. Over the years I got used to excusing myself from an offer for a drink and even developed a repertoire of silly jokes to get around it. But it never stopped to rankle me. The strange looks people gave me. Did you never go to college? What do you mean you don't drink? Ever? Not even beer? Wine is not really drinking mate! Do you use mouthwash (it has alcohol in it)?

Maybe illogically, I start wondering how did we end up such that this is one of the most important questions that everyone comes up with. How did alcohol become so important and widespread in our country! Was it always the case or is it a new phenomenon? And if so, why don't we do anything about it? Aren't its effects well known by now? How come, as a society we live with it?

I can see some dubious benefits of imbibing the intoxicating liquid. Alcohol is known to curb the efficacy of the part of brain which makes sense. It reduces inhibitions and sometimes that's what's required for a fledgling teenager to move to the next stage. For most folks it is attempting to go to the next base. For some it is mundane stuff like dancing!

I cannot dance. It's not that I have 2 left feet or no sense of rhythm. I just can't perform in any way in front of a crowd. I often look with some envy at my friends who can break into seemingly violent actions on cue with some semblance to a rhythm. On tracing the history, it did feel like a lot of them made their first plunge in a drunken state. I guess I can chalk up my lack of dancing abilities to having never had the pleasure. Of course that awareness itself should enable me to move past that point now. I guess I'm just lazy! But we digress ...

Why do we need to rely on a chemical to get us to a state that allows us to enjoy just being! And it's not an east versus west thing. There's more types of alcohol in the east than in the west. The agrarian nations appear to have made some or the other form of hooch from just about any grain, vegetable, and fruit!

If you have a clue, drop me a line!!