This time last year we were gearing up for a battle with those who sought to bring the sale of beverage alcohol into our community. As you know, we lost that battle—by a large margin. Now we drive down the local highway and see “Liquor Store Now Open,” and similar signs on some business establishments.
One sign that drew my attention had the words of our title. “Get happy…4-7 P.M.” I am accustomed to seeing “happy hour” signs in Austin, but it is sad to see them here. I have to wonder: Are we a happier community today than we were last year? Can a person really “Get Happy” from “4-7 P.M.” ?
I have read from sources that discuss how much you must drink before you “get happy,” and I am not real “happy” to discover that those “happy” folks drive on the same roads my family and I must use.
It may be too late to do anything about the alcohol sales, but it is never too late to remind people that alcohol does not, has not, can not and will not bring them happiness. It may bring a momentary “buzz” to them. It may give them a few minutes of separation from their troubles. It may take away some of the pain from their life for a brief moment. It may relieve us of our inhibitions and make us bolder temporarily. But true happiness is not a by-product of drinking beer. No one is made content and filled with peace by “happy hour.”
However, beverage alcohol does provide us with several of the following “amenities” of life.
The “Happy” You Get From Alcohol:
[Sources: USA Today; Austin American-Statesman, Center for Disease Control, National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism, National Geographic Society and Journal of American Medical Association.]
- Birth defects: Even “social drinking” is related to birth defects, Alcoholic Organic Brain Syndrome, peptic ulcers and heart muscle damage.
- A good chance of being involved in one of the 123,000,000 “alcohol-impaired driving incidents in the USA” each year.
- The opportunity of being affected by the following:
- 48% of all robberies related to alcohol consumption.
- 40% of all suicides in America contributed to alcohol.
- 54% of violent crimes related to alcohol consumption.
- 72% of all aggravated assaults in America are related to the consumption of alcohol.
- Over 50% of all fatal automobile accidents in America are related to alcohol consumption.
- Over 100 billion dollars costs to U.S. economy are directly related to alcohol consumption.
- 83% of all fire-related deaths are directly contributed to alcohol consumption.
- 70% of all sexual abuse incidents are directly related to alcohol consumption.
- 50% of all spousal abuse incidents are related to the consumption of alcohol.
- 40% of all child abuse incidents are directly related to the consumption of alcohol.
- Over 50,000 babies are born annually with Fetal-alcohol-syndrome in
- America.aOver 68% of all manslaughter and wrongful death cases in America are related to alcohol consumption.
- 69% of all incidents of drowning deaths are attributed to the consumption of alcohol.
These figures are reported in our newspapers each year, and are updated to the current dates. None of them are secret, but many people in our communities continue to consume beverage alcohol. To get happy? Yeah, right!
The figures quoted accompany one more item, the fact that between 16-17 million of our population are either diagnosed alcoholics or abusers of alcohol. We have no way of knowing how many others are at that point, yet not “diagnosed” as such.
Happy? Of course not. There must be a lot of unhappiness in our country for us to spend so much of our money and endanger so many of our friends and associates for that moment of “happy” that’s supposed to be available in “happy hour,” and even then only from “4-7 P.M.”
