He on the other hand, slept like a baby till morning, when he began to ask everyone around him how he ended up in hospital. They told him to wait till I came in to explain to him. When he saw me, he was very sorry for his conduct. Moreso, when I told him of the waiter who fainted and had to be admitted also. The young man had regained consciousness few minutes after he collapsed and was just kept for observation.
Later that morning, his wife came to the hospital worried sick. Her husband’s friends had told her he was being treated for a cut sustained as a result of an accident at the club. The nurse was going to tell her that her husband was brought in drunk, when I stopped her and whispered in igbo language, that his friends wanted to do the explaining themselves. The nurse commented, still in Igbo, that the lady was quite unlucky to have married such an irresponsible man and I concurred.
“Nwunye ya bu onye Igbo o”, his wife said quietly. (His wife is Igbo).
Red-faced, the nurse and I apologized. We had assumed she was not Igbo because her husband wasn’t.
“It’s alright”,she replied.
“You wouldn't believe we got married few months ago. He has fallen into the gutter several times, slept off by the roadside, and so on. When he goes out, my prayer is that he will come home alive. You would think he is uneducated but, not only is he a graduate, he is in a management position at work.”
“You wouldn't believe we got married few months ago. He has fallen into the gutter several times, slept off by the roadside, and so on. When he goes out, my prayer is that he will come home alive. You would think he is uneducated but, not only is he a graduate, he is in a management position at work.”
I really didn’t know what to say to her. Should I blame her for marrying a man who was given to drink?, or blame his friends for enabling him?, or blame his father for not frightening him as mine did by telling him alcohol would make him walk on his head? Her shoulders were slumped. She looked years than she was. A dark, slender and pretty lady, worry had etched lines across her forehead that shouldn't have been there.
What am I saying? It begins from one glass. Yeah, I know you can hold your own but, why do you need to anyway? Alcohol has very few benefits, and they are far out weighed by it’s disastrous consequences. Many a family has been torn apart; many people have ended up with chronic diseases. I don’t know anyone who claims his life has been bettered by strong drink. Every doctor has shaken his head at one time or the other over the foolishness of patients who drink their liver into cirrhosis. We preach and preach and people ignore us, thinking we are making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Alcohol is addictive. The more you drink, the more you want to drink. If you say no, your friends may laugh but you will outlive them.
Can you refuse to take that first sip?
Can you reduce the number of glasses or bottles you take per week?
Can you switch off your phone over the weekends and tell your drink buddies you are busy? Make the decision today to live free. Takeyour destiny in your hands. Spend more time with your family, get more work done, read a new book. Consider you biography. I’m sure you wouldn’t want your epitaph to read, “Here lies the drunkard!” Be blessed as you live a healthy life.
Note that the scripture I quoted earlier is in 1Timothy 5 : 23 and was Paul’s specific instruction to Timothy because he had some illness we don’t know of.
www.drnsmusings.wordpress.com
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I don't know why I found the story ridiculously funny. LOL.
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I don't know why I found the story ridiculously funny. LOL.
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