IS anyone else completely bewildered and, let’s face it, a little big saddened by the fundraiser Dry July?
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I would never deny much-needed funds for cancer services, but what a sorry state we’re in if this latest idea is successful.
I picked up the information flyer from the supermarket checkout, right beside the bottle shop.
Australians are being asked to be sponsored to abstain from booze for the 31 days of July and funds raised will go towards 31 adult cancer services.
Really? Is laying off the alcohol for a measly month such a big achievement that it warrants sponsorship?
Riding a bike from Melbourne to Perth is an achievement worth backing with the dollars. Running marathons and taking part in all-night relays and growing moustaches, now those things are worthy of a bit of hoo haa. But not drinking for a month?
If that’s really such a biggie, no wonder we’ve got a wider social problem.
Debate was hot this month over whether or not the legal drinking age should be raised from 18 to 21.
Dry July proves the problem with teen binge drinking does not start with the kids, the problem starts with wider society’s accepted norm of doing many things with a drink in hand.
We expect teenagers to follow suit with the Australian culture – get an education, get a job, pay taxes, give others a fair go. Of course they’re going to follow suit with the drinking culture.
We went to a dry wedding once. It was one of the nicest weddings we’d been to. I don’t think anyone missed the alcohol - it certainly didn’t impinge on everyone having a great time anyway.
It doesn’t bother me if anyone wants to let their hair down but I think sometimes we forget that alcohol is not the be all and end all of having fun.
Even most primary school social functions in Bendigo don’t happen without the option to BYO Esky.
I asked the people around me what they thought of Dry July while writing this column.
One of my work colleagues weighed into the conversation with this general comment:
“I often think, at what point in my life will I not be surrounded by people who are obsessed with getting drunk to have fun?
“It seems like the only way to have fun for them is if they’re blotto.”
She’s talking about people in their 30s.
How the hell do we expect teenagers to handle alcohol appropriately if as adults we don’t even do that? If we need the motivation of a fundraiser to go dry for just one month.
Absolutely, raise money for cancer research and support. But to pat each other on the back for the ‘grand’ effort of not drinking alcohol for one month is just really sad.
