Clear Warning

We had a guest speaker today at church who issued what seemed like a relevant and timely warning which I just to repeat here. He had grown up in Rhodesia under segregation and had to share his bedroom with his two brothers both of whom had become drunks as their way of handling their life situation. As he said 'this was not a particularly pleasant situation'. He had then gone to a Christian school and seen many of his class mates lives ruined similarly as they also turned to drink at some point. Lastly he had seen many good and intelligent class mates lives lost in accidents which were no fault of their own but involved drunk drivers. As a result he had always tried hard to avoid alcohol whilst living in Rhodesia. When he came to the UK to study he struggled with many friends who tried to get him to go to the pub telling him that the culture was different here. Here they said people don't drink to get drunk like in Rhodesia they just have one or two drinks to socialize then go home. He felt that while this might have been true in 70's, 80's and even 90's it was no longer true as programs like 'Booze Britain' show. I have to say that this rang a very clear bell with me as in the youth club I now run and ones I have been involved in the past I can think of several kids in their early teens who would often turn up slightly the worse for wear due to alcohol. In just about every case whilst they might explain it in terms of being an 'adult' behavior it was obvious in every case it was used as a way of coping (read forgetting) about other issues in their lives. Most of which they didn't have the strength of character or maturity to deal with and where those 'adults' around them were no better equipped to do so, or were abrogating there responsibility. In many cases these 'adults' were the cause rather than solution to their problems. So the warning is clear - don't think it can't happen here, especially if we as a society don't care enough to provide alternate role models.