Patron

Last night I went to a birthday party of an acquaintance of mine who had suggested to bring something to drink if you didn’t like beer. I dislike beer so I thought it might be a good idea to bring a bottle of Patron that Jim had brought for me when he came over recently. Now, for whatever masochistic reason, the rule is that once you open a bottle of Patron,  you can’t stop until it’s absolutely dry. Luckily, I found some compatriots that helped me out at the party.

It’s a curious habit we humans have. We are literally slowly poisoning yourself into a stupor. I can imagine and understand that a long time ago we did this with hallucinogens in order to achieve a state of spiritual enlightenment, but that aspect has all but completely disappeared and now it’s a voluntary poisoning with little to no spiritual aspect to it.

Now it seems the purpose is three-fold; on the one hand it’s to enjoy the beverage as it is, but it’s likely that the alcohol doesn’t add much to the actual taste of the beverage. Second, I think it’s a tool we use to let down our social guards a bit and be less inhibited to interact with others, but if we try we’re likely to be able to achieve that without alcohol. And third, I think it’s in order to make good on an informal social contract where everyone drinks and you stand out if you don’t. Each reason by itself is a poor reason to drink alcohol and I’m not even sure that combined they’re an any better reason to drink alcohol. And yet we do.

I have that say that I’m glad I was mixing up glasses of this delicious tequila with glasses of water, otherwise I don’t think I would have woken up as painlessly as I did this morning. :)

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