Would You Like Some Violence with Your Drink?

A retired police officer was often heard to say that the two worst days of the year that he had to work on the city police force were Christmas and Mother’s Day. Why? Because those were the two days when family members got together. Or, maybe we should say that those were the two days when family members felt obligated to get together and managed to make it to the same location. Everybody probably promised his or her spouse to play nicely and ignored whatever usually pushed their buttons and set them off. But then the alcohol came out. A drink, or two, or three because of being rather unhappy to be there. Next thing you knew, it started feeling like a pretty good idea to let fly those words that were aching to be airborne, and wham! there went the Christmas tree right into the television set, or the carving knife right over onto brother John’s arm. 9-1-1, here we go.

The problem is that alcohol goes first to the brain, and makes people less able to make good decisions. Families are hurt, and sometimes even neighbors or friends get carried away. Self-control is the first casualty, but it isn’t the last.

Take the example of Victor Rich, age 56, from Wyoming, MI. He was drinking. He and another man, age 29, described as being someone that he knew, got into an argument, and next thing you know, Rich was stabbing the other man with a knife. The Wyoming Police were called to the home at 1 a.m. on Thursday, March 3, 2011, and they arrested Victor Rich and charged him with Assault with Intent to do Great Bodily Harm less than Murder. The younger man had suffered multiple stab wounds, although none of them were life-threatening. No doubt they were incredibly painful, nevertheless, and he was taken to the hospital for treatment.

As for Rich, he was taken to the Kent County Jail, and held on $100,000 bond.

Perhaps it would be a good rule of thumb to add to the “don’t drink and drive” rule. Maybe something like “don’t spend time with people you don’t really like when you are drinking.” Then again, anybody can get on anybody’s nerves at any time, as the old Smith Brothers song goes, “You always hurt the one you love.”

But at least if you’re not drinking, you probably control yourself.