Drinking first takes the drunkard out of society,
and then out of the world.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Reflection
There were no automobiles in Emerson's day, but still
the drinker died prematurely. The causes were as var-
ied as they are today, but they were sometimes dis-
guised by the medical profession and shamed families
as "natural" deaths. In truth, they were brought low
by failed livers, by freezing, by falls from horses, by
accidents with tools, murder, and, most dreadful of all, by suicides.
Affirmation
There is a time to die, but let it be in Nature's plan for
me, and let it not be today.
