A man I would have loved to have met

The Houston Chronicle is an awful paper. It does have a tolerable sports page. Actually, when I was living in Texas, the only thing I liked reading in it was the Obituaries section.

Lots of interesting Obituaries. I've read some that led the most fascinating lives. One that stands out is a guy I'll call Yngwie (pronounced Ing-vay).

Yngwie was a black guy who grew up during very racist times. His son
wrote the obituary and one of his earliest memories was from the time Yngwie, who made lots of money, took his family to a posh white restaurant.

Of course, all the white folk stared at Yngwie and his family, giving him a look like "what is those black people doing in this restaurant?" So Yngwie's son, being young and curious, asked his father, "why is everyone staring at us?"

With a big smile, Yngwie looked down at his son and replied, "because we're the best-looking black people they've ever seen."

The other thing that stood out from the story was that Yngwie was an alcoholic. Not a drunken rager, but a kind alcoholic who would get up to work, do his job, in fact do it well, go home, drink, and talk lots. I've known this type and actually like these people.

This is where my rant begins. The difference between alcoholics and drug
addicts.

I'm not denying that alcoholism is a bad thing. It will eventually destroy your liver and take a decade or two off your life. It also brings out demons within you. I keep hearing people say things like "Bob's cool, but he's a major ***hole when he's drunk." No, Bob's a major ***hole but it takes being drunk for him to show his true side.

Some alcoholics can lead a double-life. Co-workers may not even know the guy's an alcoholic until after he retires. He could show up for work at nine, leave at five, do a wonderful job, then head home and get drunk for thirty-five years and retire. A few years later, you'd hear in the obituaries that he was an alcoholic and he died of his liver giving out.

Drug addicts on the other hand cannot live a double life for long. Usually
within a year, their double life would overlap. They'll lose their job, end up on the streets, and die by an early age, driving everyone they knew nuts in the meantime.

Once again, I'm not denying that alcoholism is a problem. I've known children of alcoholics that spend their whole lives trying to please losers because Dad was always drunk. On the other hand, I knew guys like Yngwie. He used alcohol to hide from the sorrows of racism. By the way, both of his children by reading the obituary turned out to be quite successful. Are they happy? I hope so.

For the record, alcoholism did kill Yngwie in the end. His liver gave out. But before he died, I would have loved to meet Yngwie. I bet I could have written a book about his life.