Let's Get Drunk and Talk

It is a funny to think that we do this, but we do.

A gathering of strangers or familiar faces seems to make it much easier to converse with alcohol. It is fashioned as an acceptable procedure to offer and apply drink or drugs to enhance the conversations and possibility of a joyful gathering.

“What can I get you?”

Maybe it is the season of holidays as an excuse, but it seems every weekend there is a beer feast or a wine tasting or some special event to allow us devour our spirits. Bacchus would be proud of us.

With a bar on every corner it is easy to step in with a friend and have a drink. When the waitperson approaches the table the first question is “What would you like to drink?”

Is it an excuse to say what you really want to say using the drink as the motivator or an inhibitor annihilator to late your true feelings out without need of an excuse or a pardon. The drink can bring about shy mischief or grow into inexcusable mayhem. The numbers of drinks are only a crutch to be used for our inability to be honest with ourselves. Barley, grape or spirits can be bragged about with the hangover later.

This didn’t always happen. When we were younger we could honestly talk about all our teen angst without a drop of alcohol. We talked about some pretty deep subjects like war, music, girls, music, school, girls, fashion, girls…. Well you get the drift.

My groups of friends were not real big drinkers so most of the late night discussions were on brick walls past curfew. There were no judgmental evaluations because we didn’t have enough experience to judge. The main point of our profound speeches was to have an ear to listen.

Somewhere along the way we conformed to our parents lifestyle and set up bars and wine racks and learned enough to fashion an Old Fashion or a Highball or an early bird Bloody Mary. What was appalling to our rebellious values turned into the regular cocktail hour?

Unfortunately there is a small window between getting tipsy and sleeping behind the couch and so many tales will stay hidden from even John Barleycorn. Our social acceptance to conformity gives us an excuse to become comfortably numb and we don’t have to talk about it.

So step up to the bar. What can I get you to drink?