Chris Fernandes
I was reminded of a childhood incident by an old friend; a summer night in fifth grade, our first hangover! A school fete had beer on sale and a few classmates were helping out at the stalls. One of them tossed out a couple of beers from underneath and voila; Our first high! By 15 my buddies and I were chain smokers, by 16 we discovered drugs and were avid party goers. We were delinquents in no time, dropouts in quick succession, a complete lack of conscience followed suit, leading us into violent acts, vandalism and other unspeakable deeds that can only be classified as sociopathic tendencies.
The ban on liquor stores near highways is a band aid on the bullet wound on Goa’s sacred soul. I feel for the ones that stand to lose their livelihoods, albeit a morally questionable one, but I ask each of you, Goans in particular to think about what we have given up for a buzz. We attract the scum of the land year around who leave their mark at every corner, we have generations who willingly choose slavery to alcohol and drugs without even a hint of remorse because near everyone is a slave too!
To me an adult drinker is like an overgrown teenager with a dangly earring and green hair; a smoker past his teens like a wannabe rock star who still thinks it is acceptable to prove his machismo by playing a lonesome round of Russian roulette in public.
Evolve for Pete’s sake, Goa!
Youth, don’t fall for the hype. Parties and getting high are a gift wrapped detonator and you’re strapping on dynamite on your chest and future. Use your limitless strength to collect blessings: a good education, a fit physique, invest in making a donation to an orphanage every month if you can, pass the test by using the plenty you were given to alleviate the hurts of those who have little.
To the upright judicial executives who care, consider proactive solutions to end our state’s woes. Offer huge rewards in cash and kind to anyone who reports the sale of drugs, and perhaps corruption too. May drug dealers and vice peddlers become as endangered as the once pious, God fearing spirit of this land.
“My people are being destroyed by a lack of knowledge”- Hosea 4:6
Let him drink and remember his misery no more”- Proverbs
