[ Editorial ]

By The Rev. Richard Taylor

Special to The Capital-Journal

Oh, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains! That we should, with joy, pleasance, revel and applause, transform ourselves into beasts!" --- "Othello," Act 2, Scene 3

On the day John Brown was hanged, Dec. 2, 1859, Abraham Lincoln was in Kansas.

Capt. J.R. Fitch was a member of the committee that invited Lincoln and traveled with him in Kansas. He gives this account of what happened after a meeting at Leavenworth.

Lincoln and others were invited to the home of Judge Delahay. Refreshments were served, including wine, of which most partook except Lincoln.

Capt. Fitch wondered why. Later Lincoln told him, "My young friend, do not put an enemy in your mouth to steal away your brains."

A doctor gave me a chart in 1971 on the levels of brain development. This has been presented to students in grade school, high school, colleges and churches all across Kansas. I held three books to illustrate this medical truth.

Bottom book --- brain stem --- instinct and emotion. This book represents brain function fully operational at birth --- heart beats, blood circulates, food is digested, lungs breathe...

Middle book --- mid-brain --- motor and sensory control. This brain function begins immediately to develop. The baby will learn to talk, walk, later ride a bicycle, play the piano...

Top book --- cerebral cortex --- intelligence. Development of this brain function takes place over many, many years. Parents make the big mistake of expecting a 5- or 10-year-old to think like an adult.

This top book is the brain function that makes language possible. It is used to understand math and science, to make good decisions, to be creative, original, to reason through a problem, to exercise self- control. This cerebral cortex animals do not have.

The human brain develops upward. Alcohol works in exact reverse order. The first swallow of alcohol immediately passes through the stomach wall into the blood stream and impairs the cerebral cortex -- - the top book.

The cerebral cortex is used when we worry, when we have feelings of inferiority, when we are anxious about what may or may not happen, when difficult decisions must be made, when we are hurt by what others say or do. The drinker feels good because the cerebral cortex is put to sleep. Animals do not worry about paying taxes.

After a number of drinks the remark is often made, "He's feeling no pain." That is psychologically and medically correct.

They say he is acting like an animal. All he has left is the brain function of a baboon. He has lost contact with reality.

The middle book is the next part of the brain to be impaired. I thought the drinking driver was deadly because the foot would not move fast enough to the brake. The drinking driver is deadly because the top book cannot make the decision to hit the brake. Someone says, "He ought to know he can't drive safely." He doesn't know because his brain is lying to him. He honestly believes he is a better driver. Talking, walking, all motor control is impaired.

When the poison is building up to where it may cause death, a wonderful defense mechanism is triggered by the second book --- vomiting. When you see a drinker vomit, you are seeing a life being saved. But if consumption is rapid, alcohol concentration is built up so fast the middle book is put to sleep before it can say vomit.

When the last part of the brain to be impaired, the bottom book, is put to sleep, no longer are the lungs told the breathe and the drinker is dead.

A can of cereal malt beverage is 3.2 percent alcohol by weight, but the can is 12 fluid ounces by volume. That same can of beer is 4 percent alcohol by volume. Four percent of 12 is 0.48 ounce of absolute alcohol in that can of 3.2 beer.

A four-ounce glass of average wine is 12 percent alcohol by volume, and 12 percent of four is 0.48 ounce of absolute alcohol in that glass of wine.

In 96-proof distilled spirits, alcohol by volume is 48 percent of one or 0.48 ounce of absolute alcohol in that mixed drink.

A drink is a drink is a drink.

Drinking in moderation is two drinks or less a day. If every drinker stopped with two in 24 hours, there would never be another new alcoholic. Alcoholics are not weak people. Alcohol is a powerful drug. Alcoholism sneaks up on wonderful people. Drug addiction spares no one.

I have a half-page newspaper story with the headline, "It's crazy to expect crazy person to know he's crazy." The research was on how to deal with persons who are drinking.

A University of Kansas professor invited me every semester to his alcoholism class. My first time in his classroom found students ready to take me apart, this fire-and-brimstone, scripture-quoting Methodist preacher.

At the end of my three-book lecture, they were told that achieving your dreams is a mighty big job. Alcohol is the largest cause of college dropouts. Don't permit the drug to steal away your brains and mess up your life. (They applauded.)

Alcohol kills brain cells. Alcoholics have space where brain cells used to be. Babies born to drinking mothers are doomed to a life of mental retardation. Binge drinking may permanently damage your ability to think.

Lost brain cells. Lost brain function. How much brain loss do you want?

Concerned persons do not drink because of what the drug does to others. Concerned drinkers over 21 stop with one or two on days they drink because of what the drug may do to them.

The Rev. Richard Taylor, Berryton, has been a United Methodist minister for 50 years. He also has an engineering degree from Northwestern.

Copyright 2002
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