Stumbling Blocks

This combination motor vehicle shed and workshop under construction here on my dad’s property about 90 kilometres from Bourke in 1954 is one of the reasons that I don’t drink alcohol. You see the man building it was destitute because of alcohol addiction and he arrived at our place looking for work just when we needed a shed. At first Dad was reluctant to employ him as he looked so hopeless. However we soon found out that Jack had been employed as Foreman of a construction company that had constructed one of the largest factory complexes in Melbourne. Jack quickly demolished dad’s abandoned shearers hut and built this excellent shed. He had lost his Foreman’s position because he became an alcoholic and when he finished dad’s shed he spent all the money at the Pub. This can happen to anyone who drinks.

I’m writing this article to warn young people not to treat alcoholic drink as a joke; actually it is more like a snake lying in wait to catch the unwary.

When I was very young I went to town with dad to get a shearer: The man was drunk in the pub when dad located him, half way home we had to stop so he could lean out and be sick. When we arrived home he opened the car door and just fell out on the ground and made no effort to get up. This did not impress me as something that I would like to get involved in when I was older. Another man employed as a fencer would work hard for a month and then take his cheque and give it to the hotel keeper and stay there drinking until it was all used up at which time the keeper would buy him a pair of boots and trousers and send him out with the mailman; this didn’t impress me favourably either.

 A young man I worked with in Nyngan had a hangover and told me he was worried because the night before he had been drinking at the pub with others and when he woke up the next morning he found himself in bed with a girl that he would not normally even mix with, so he ran out of her house as fast as he could but had no memory of how he got there, and that didn’t impress me either. Another young chap here in Dubbo told me he woke up in his own bed but had no recollection of how he got there and was baffled by a note left by a girl whose name he didn’t recognise saying that she had brought him home and put him to bed. All the above may seem amusing but it amounts to brain damage and loss of self respect. The only way to avoid that is to avoid the alcohol. Otherwise we also may regret our actions for the rest of our life.

The bible doesn’t say you can’t drink but it does make interesting comments: For example Ephesians 5:18 says “Do not be drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit” (Meaning the Holy Spirit where you get the Joy without the hangover). Jesus said that “if we place a stumbling block in the path of one of these little ones it would be better for us if we had never been born”. And Romans 14:21 says : “It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine nor anything whereby your brother stumbleth”. And this brings to mind the story of the prisoner on death row in the U.S.A. who asked to see a clergyman. When the clergyman came in the prisoner said: “You! You are the reason I’m here; when I was a young man I was in a youth group lead by you and I revered you. One day I saw you drinking so I thought it must be all right, but I became an alcoholic and in a drunken brawl I killed a man and now I’m going to the electric chair”. So that clergyman had placed a stumbling block in that young man’s path which is exactly what Jesus said not to do.

I was at a Show committee meeting in Nyngan with about 10 other men and after the meeting concluded they said they would adjourn to the Overlander Hotel for a drink, they were my friends so to be sociable I went along and had a squash. I was teaching High School Scripture at the time and the next week when I entered the classroom one of the older boys said “Mr V, I saw you going into the pub on Saturday night”. I explained the situation to him and vowed (to myself) that in view of what happened to that clergyman, I would not do that again.  I have been speaking from a man’s point of view but it is even worse for a young woman when her self-respect is compromised because alcohol has impaired her judgment. She also would be best to stay with soft drink. Our motto should be; Think Before You Drink.      Best wishes, Tom.