On Animals, Children and Alcohol

Copyright 2011

A child never forgets the undercurrent of fear they feel when a parent, sibling or guardian is in an intoxicated state.

The uncertainty of “when the other shoe drops”, the violent outbursts, or fits of rage when a person in a place of what should be honor and dignity, falls in the eyes of a child that has not yet been burdened by the complexities of human life.

Outings considered “fun” can take a nasty turn to “out of control” at the drop of a hat; the knowing that too much liquor will fuel a growing tension in the chest of a youngster not yet drinking age, as they watch adults distort themselves into someone crazed.

The child dares not speak, that may provoke violence, for simply telling the truth. The knot in their gut erupts in vomit, seeing mommy and daddy fighting so, the fear just needed to come out.

The sorry excuse the next day, “I was drunk”. Maybe just maybe, in a young child’s heart, you could do better than to give that stinking excuse. The booze ain’t helping that hole in your heart. Why isn’t love enough?

And so one finds a safe place to hide, with so called lesser beings; here one finds a solace a broken family could not bring.

And interesting to note, the creatures know when our attention is focused and cued and not colored by residues that dull our aptitudes.

If given the choice, the creatures prefer our pure presence, good, bad or indifferent. Their unconditional love rings sweeter when we are fully present.

Many years later, some still try to distort the peace, with the false weaning the bottle lends to the Soul, but still the animals know. It is a place from falsehood the human operates, what follows is usually blows.

How much like a child, many animals suffer, they cannot speak, but still they are the buffer. Silently soaking what alcohol causes to suffer.

The human’s sneak into darkened rooms, sipping from a jug in a brown paper sack and its not even noon. The animals feel the divide, to them you cannot lie. But a human’s narrow vision skews reality; their ego makes too much noise vainly trying to cover the truth.

Their delusion soon gives way, for lies and bullshit always crumble. The truth you see speaks loudest in silence and stillness and this, the animals, like children, always know.