Raising Kids in the Age of Foolishness

Therre are enough fools in the world!

Raising Kids in the Age of Foolishness: Drinking Advice #3 Multiplies Trouble

Alcohol Masks Pain but Multiplies Trouble

•             “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife?... Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.” — Proverbs 23:29–30

I confess that I have sung many drinking songs as a country music lover. Merle’s “Swingin’ Doors” and “Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down” are at the top of the list. Many of these songs talk of the masking of pain and the trouble drinking brings. The cleverest country song must be Brad Paisley’s “ALCOHOL.” I like the line about “I can make you put that lampshade on your head.” In retrospect, many of these songs trivialize the trauma and trouble drinking causes. (Add drugs into this.) In my opinion the single most destructive element within our society is substance abuse. The wise calls it “WOE.” That is a good way to describe it. The second word is “SORROW.” The third word is “STRIFE.” That sums it up.

You don’t have to look very far to find the devastation caused by alcohol and drugs. Broken homes, neglected and abused children, traffic fatalities, murder, adultery, lying, stealing, homelessness, overdoses, cartels, smugglers, financial ruin, and liver disease. And WHY? For a few moments of pain relief? How can we sow so much WOE, SORROW, and STRIFE into our world and not expect a multiplication of trouble? We sow to the wind and reap the whirlwind. If, as James says, the tongue sets off a fire that can burn down the world, how much worse it is when that tongue is so inebriated that all that comes out is slurred and hateful speech? Fermentation is a helpful process in many instances, but this is one process that Satan has highjacked and driven off the cliff. Like lemmings, children follow one after the other over the cliff into the abyss.

Rehab, detox, recovery groups, therapies, and counter-drugs are big business. Do you realize how many AA meetings go on in our communities every day? People attend more AA meetings per week than church prayer meetings. I taught maltreatment courses for years. Everyone should see the pictures of abused children, pain inflicted by parents under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Parents warn your children of the destructive path left by substance abuse. Point out the evidence of it which is all around. We try to hide it, but it is there. Take them to see the smashed cars. Drive by a detox center, sit in the parking lot, and watch people coming and going. Ask a DCF case worker to describe what fetal alcohol syndrome looks like for the newborn baby. Don’t just tell them drinking is bad. Show them the WOE, SORROW, and STRIFE it causes.