Alistair Darling has fabulous eye brows, it cannot be denied. His budget was a little less fabulous. But the part of it which has been a subject of conversation for me this week has been the extra money folk will have to pay for their beer.
I’m an almost tea totaller. This means that about every six months I have a glass of wine or half a cider, on a very special occasion I’ll have a couple of drinks. But the rest of the time I dont drink alcohol. I don’t know how I ended up as an almost tea totaller, there was no moral reason or health reason, I just don’t really drink. The thing is the more time goes by the more it becomes an issue for me. As a nearly young person I often get asked in churches, why do young people drink to oblivion, what can we do to solve the problem of young people binge drinking?!
Obviously the first answer is not all the young people are drinking to oblivion. The second response I give is that we need to take some responsibility for the examples we are setting, because regardless of class or social setting I’ve watched countless adults choose to drink to relax and have fun, and often they do it responsibly but still they then give a message to our young people that what you do to relax and have fun is drink, and for a twelve year old its difficult to know how to drink ‘responsibly’.
How do we solve the problem? I don’t know if we can. I do know that we’ve made drinking alcohol totally acceptable, and I know that we have shown young people that alcohol is associated with relaxation, friends, socialising and fun. I know that we’ve show young people that drinking is ok. And I’m not for a moment saying its not okay to drink, I believe we all have the right to make a choice - just as I choose to smoke ciggerettes. But I am saying that perhaps we need to lead by example and show young people other ways of relaxing, having a good time; showing other ways of feeling confident and happy other than alcohol.
I guess I’m saying that when an intelligent woman with a glass of wine in her hand asks me ‘what do we do about the problem of young people and alcohol’ and then proceeds with a group of other intelligent adults to binge drink their way through the evening, I have to hold my hands up and say this isn’t a culture I want to be part of.
Its not Alistair Darlings pennies on a pint that will stop people drinking excessively, its having a little self respect.
Your words are very powerful. We do have to set an example and whether we chose to believe it or not, young people and young adults look at those around them and their behaviour and base some of their habits on what they see. These things do not just come out of nowhere. It is not only those who are drinking who need to “drink responsibly” but also need to be aware of the image they are giving out to the next generation, a generation who are growing up in a culture that is vastly different to what others are used to, but still one that is influenced by previous generations. It may not be an easy thing to do, but it is something we should all be aware of.