How to get Drunk....

Hi gentle reader, did I catch your eye on the title of this blog? I bet I did. As we explore this a little further together you may find some surprising revelations.

As most of you know for many years I ran a rescue mission cold climes of Rochester New York for 25 years. Most of our guests were alcoholics and usually the first of the month was a bad time. The reason being is all it checks the government would be mailed. so for about eight or 10 days you would see a lot of the street people drunk as skunks wandering around town or should I say stagger with a lot of them showing resulting signs of fighting.  Some of these folks would come in with their arms in casts  or using crutches to get around. They were battered and bruised from head to toe. Some, Gentle Reader, looked like they should be in a hospital. Sometimes we would have To take them to the emergency room for treatment  and get them checked out  before bringing them back to the mission for a hot mean and hopefully a bed to sleep in.Some nights it would be midnight before we got everyone safely in bed. Those were the days, gentle reader.

In later years, checks were mailed at different times of the month and they went by the alphabet so that checks were spread out through out the month. That was an improvement. It spread the battering of the street people over the month making things less hectic for us at least. The truth be known was it just spread out the age old problem.

When you live on the streets you are on your own. One can get robbed in a split second just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Those, gentle reader, who were robbed or spent all their money on cheap pints of Thunderbird wine. would have to be more creative. some would clean uo and go to a drug store or a market usally in pairs, one to distract the employees and the would wander over to...guess where? That's right the drug store part that stored mouthwash. You heard me right....mouthwash. Why mouthwash, you ask? Take a look at the label on the back of the bottle for the ingredients box. look for the second, third, or forth ingredients there it is! Alcohol as much as 17% more or less. That more than some drinks you order at the bar or the glass of wine you have with dinner. That's the reason some mouthwashes burn so in you mouth, gentle reader.

So the next time you take a trip to the market or drugstore gentle reader and you need mouthwash read the lable carefully, just like you do on food products. Many young folks I saw on the street were there because of their drinking career began using mouthwash. Now before you panic, there are mouthwashes on the store shelf that are free of gentle reader, of alcohol. Those are the ones to buy, but you have to do your part and read the label. Make the right choice.  Remember the life you save may be your kid's.... Pastor Kaye+   Comments, please are welcome in the box below.