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And a 12-Year-Old Shall Lead ThemMay 2, 2006 -- My good friend and fellow drinks writer, Lew Bryson, has a smart daughter. Smarter, in fact, than 99% of the people who forge alcohol policy in the United States. How do I know this, especially seeing as I haven’t met or even spoken to 12-year-old Nora? Simple. I read her daddy’s website. The background to this tale is that the local newspaper in the Bryson family’s neck of the woods published what Lew describes as a “hand-wringer of a guest opinion,” filled with fear and loathing about teen drinking and the DANGERS OF ALCOHOL! (Oooooh, scary stuff, kids, as SCTV’s Count Floyd used to say.) Unprompted but properly raised and educated by her mom and dad, responsible drinkers both, Nora wrote a reply in the form of a letter to the editor, which the paper perhaps predictably chose to ignore. Can’t you just hear the conversation at the editor’s table? “Hey, a kid wrote in about booze! Isn’t that cute? Next letter…” Dismissive twits! Lew wasn’t taking the ignorance of his local rag’s staff laying down, so he printed Nora’s letter on his website at www.lewbryson.com. And now, having asked Nora for her permission, so am I. Because so long as American attitudes towards alcohol continue to be governed by fear instead of rational thought, and so long as the President, who denies being an alcoholic, believes that abstinence is a sounder approach to alcohol than is mature enjoyment, and so long as it’s public policy in the U.S. to scare the crap out of kids where alcohol is concerned, rather than teach them of the benefits of moderate consumption, then I guess it will take a 12-year-old to lead them. Thnaks for being that 12-year-old, Nora. And thanks for agreeing to let me run your letter. What you don’t know can kill you by Nora Bryson Kids die from alcohol-related accidents every year. But it’s not really the alcohol that’s killing them. It’s not their driving skills either. It’s ignorance. People say they are taking steps to educate us about safe drinking habits, and yet children still die. We are taught that drinking is bad, and that we should not do it. We are not taught how to drink safely, just that it is bad for us. Then when we reach twenty-one, we have no idea what to do and no idea how much we can drink and not intoxicate ourselves. Children do not need to be scared out of their skins about alcohol; they just need to know the facts. Yes, if you drink too much at a time you will get drunk. But if parents teach their kids safe drinking habits before they can legally drink, this is less likely to happen. Yes, if you drink excessively, it will damage your organs. But liver damage only occurs when you drink too much, too often, over years and years. If you have a glass of wine or a glass of beer at dinner, every now and then, it does not cause liver damage. My parents taught me at a young age what would happen to me if I drank too much, and I never intend to drink over my limit. Many parents are not very comfortable about talking to their kids about these issues. But please, do it for them. It’s a matter of life or death. Search The Real Beer Library For More Articles Related To: alcohol policy
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