Not Just The Driver!It's Not Just the Driver One of the more common excuses offered by alcoholics and drugs addicts in defense of their behavior is “I’m only hurting myself.” That simply is not true. The disease goes far beyond the individual, as it has a dramatic impact on the immediate family and the community at large.
Here’s a case in point about a man who was stopped in a Milwaukee suburb on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Police received a complaint that a driver swerved up on a curb. When the police looked into his car they saw an open bottle of whiskey. The 42 year-old driver responded “Not at all” when asked if he had been drinking. He was given the field sobriety test and it registered a .34, more than four times the legal limit of .08. The arrest took place in the late morning. The driver explained to police that it really wasn’t his fault, because he was trying to sleep off his drinking from the night before, but had to get up out of bed to drive his daughter to school. He said he felt “obligated” to take her. The man said he had consumed about 10 beers, but said nothing about the open bottle of whiskey. If he was “only hurting himself” then how does he explain the fact that he was driving his daughter while registering over four times the limit? The disease robs people of their common sense. Even after sleeping for a few hours, he was still drunk and therefore impaired. Under the influence of alcohol, he tries to reason his way through the problem his daughter presented. His conclusion is that he needs to sleep, but he wants to be a good dad and take the kid to school. Witnesses told police about him riding up on a curb, a rather mild offense considering what could have happened. He might have run a stop light and crashed the car, killing his daughter and the other driver. It could have been much worse. Alcohol has taken away the true joy of this man’s life, his family. Alcohol has taken ownership of his mind and what is absolutely stupid behavior to healthy people is normal to the person who is navigating through the alcoholic haze. As humans we can rationalize just about anything. It wasn’t his fault he was driving drunk, he had to take his daughter to school. Out of what he believes is necessity, he gets behind the wheel while drunk, becoming not just a problem to himself, but a public menace. Rational people do not do this. That is the underlying tragedy of this disease. This example does not remove personal responsibility. Drunk or sober, he is responsible. People say “Well, I can’t remember, I was drunk.” They believe this is an acceptable excuse. Again, it is the product of a mind that is not functioning properly. I suppose trial attorneys might be able to argue this effectively. I recall a court case many years ago when a man was found not guilty of fondling his neighbor’s wife because at the time of the incident he was too drunk to formulate criminal intent. The disease goes beyond the individual, because people make excuses like that. Family members become enablers and friends pretend they don’t see. The scenario of a man driving his daughter while under the influence is repeated thousands of times. The individual circumstances change, and so often the person is not stopped by police. They drive drunk and don’t get caught. Chances are good they have done this many times and do not know they have a problem, or they don’t understand what they are doing is wrong, by any standard. They may or may not ever take responsibility. There is always an excuse. It’s not just his problem. It’s our problem. For more Underlying Issues go to books HOW TO USE THIS SITE:This site contains five MAIN pages that EVERYONE should read: RECOVERY… Yourself... Your Family... Your Friends... Your Community... The rest of the pages are there for your reference to explain important topics in more detail.  You Can Be ADDICTION FREE FOREVER!Are you or your loved one struggling with addiction?YOU MUST TAKE ACTION NOW! Use this at-home guide to End Addiction Forever:Click here for details!
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