When I was younger, I would often sit and wonder what the next hour would be like at home.
I knew my stepfather would soon come home from work, only to drink himself into a violent rage.
His routine was to come home after a hard day of work and catch a good football game, while drowning himself in a six-pack of beer.
By the time he would reach his third beer, his personality would change and not for the better but for the worst.
That’s when the rage would begin. He would start off by yelling at Mama. “Why isn’t this house clean? Where is my dinner? You call this food?” and there goes dinner upside the wall.
Mama would scream in horror knowing he was going to hit her. He would run out of beer, and he would go for another six-pack as if one six pack wasn’t enough.
When he would return home, I could hear him staggering up the steps complaining about everything. I would go and hide in my closet, afraid of what was going to happen next.
My mother would try her best to please him but it was never enough, he would still find a reason to scream at her.
The neighbors would call the police. Mama would lie to them and tell them everything was ok.
Little did I know that that would be the last time I would ever see my mother again.
Daddy was so mad at Mama, he hit her hard, and she fell down the stairs. She went into a coma that day, and she never woke up.
Society states that alcohol addiction is a disease.
However, I beg to differ. I think alcohol is just a way to alter one’s conscience.
I feel strongly that there is no excuse for an alcoholic, just like there is no excuse for a drug addict’s habit. I think it’s a routine we are all too familiar with.
A disease is an illness that people suffer from and they don’t have a choice.
Alcohol is not a disease. You have the choice to drink it or not.
I find the terminology insulting to those who really suffer from a disease. I think alcoholics use the terminology “disease” as an excuse to get away with their habit.
What I want to know is, is it a disease when they get behind the wheel of a car and kill someone? Is it a disease when it becomes spousal abuse? Is it a disease when a teenager becomes an alcoholic and decides to commit suicide?
It was this so-called disease that killed my mother.
I refuse to feel sorry for alcoholics who label alcoholism a “disease.”