The Whiskey Monologues

ON SOBRIETY, ON DRINKING

See, the thing is, there’s just no point to being sober. Not at all. When you’re sober so much shit can happen to you, everything touches you, but when you’re drunk, everything has the opportunity to be OK. It’s been said that Charles Bukowski would never admit to being an alcoholic because he could remain sober for up to 24 hours, and I think that’s quite the way to look at life. Sure, I love, and probably depend on this thing, but I can stop it for 24 hours, just long enough to realize how much I miss it. Because that’s how I look at alcohol. It’s family. It’s my loved one. When it’s near, it may get annoying, but once it’s away, I pine for it, I miss it, and I wonder if it’s doing well without me. Being sober is just a time to have to face, head on, what you’re feeling, or experiencing, but without the buffer of an intermediary. The world looks better through drunk goggles, and that’s cool, that’s jazz, that’s love, that’s ace, that’s what, for better or worse, defines us, because it’s us against them (the teetotalers).

The Drinking is like a cool club that’s got a locked door, and you’ll need the password to get it. How many times have we all bonded with someone who’s our complete opposite, but we were both drunk and that made it cool. We remember that. The Alcohol is the password to this place where the world seems less bright, and yet more vibrant, no worse for the wear, where no harm comes, or touches us.

Submitted by Hey, Mike Waskom.