Sad story from the 1988 Men's Olympic Trials 1500m

I'm drinking a beer as I read this. You know, it's never been a negative force in my life. I can control it. Sometimes, rarely, I get just a little drunk but never out of control and I can always get up and run the next day.

Something tells me that the person going on about sin, etc. was kidding, or maybe I'm just hoping for his sake that this is the case. Something also tells me that those rushing to say that avoiding problems with alcohol is a matter of self-control (which is true) are those who often display a marked lack of self-control when it comes to drinking, and I am betting that the poster screaming about the evils of booze was counting on this.

gee wiz wrote:

I would love to hear that this guy has pulled himself out of the gutter since this was written?

Unfortunately, he hasn't. Here's an article from last month...

Blowing.Rock Master wrote:

GUH wrote:

Never drink, not even a sip. It will tempt you to great evils. It leads to divorces, car accidents, financial issues, and a life of sin and abuse.

No it doesn't. A lack of self control does.

And alcohol limits your ability to exert self-control.

DocLove wrote:

' and a life of sin and abuse.'

Sounds great I'm off to the pub!

I'm sure that smile will remain on your face even as alcohol ruins your life.

runn wrote:

I'm drinking a beer as I read this. You know, it's never been a negative force in my life. I can control it. Sometimes, rarely, I get just a little drunk but never out of control and I can always get up and run the next day.

Well no wonder the rest of your post sounds laughabe. Everybody says to themselves that they can "control it [themselves]", even people who have drunken outbursts everyday. Didn't read the story? When the father started noticing his son's degeneration into a drunkard, he says "no no no!" Meaning "no, I'm just having a little bit of fun, I can control myself later on." Well it's all fun and games, until someone dies or gets in trouble or the like.

I generally agree with you about booze. It is mostly for the birds and not worth the downside. It's mostly a scourge. Nothing against light social drinking, for those that can control it, but anybody that has alcoholic close friends or family knows how bad this shit is. The problem with light social drinking is that is where all drinkers start.

I would love to hear that this guy has pulled himself out of the gutter since this was written?

[/quote]

Unfortunately, he hasn't. Here's an article from last month...

http://www.gazette.com/articles/police-99954-morning-arrested.html

[/quote]

Damn. That isn't the update I was hoping to hear!

Another wrote:

Why is this a "sad" story. Is it "sad" because he pissed his own life away?

he has not pissed his life away as life is not over until they shovel dirt on the person, but his drinking has absolutely caused him to take a negative detour in his life.

hopefully he will quit the drinking and turn his life around for the better.

Another wrote:

Why is this a "sad" story. Is it "sad" because he pissed his own life away?

he has not pissed his life away as life is not over until they shovel dirt on the person, but his drinking has absolutely caused him to take a negative detour in his life.

hopefully he will quit the drinking and turn his life around for the better.

"Police said the man appeared to be under the influence of a controlled substance when arrested. It is unknown what Martinez was doing in the house, as it was not his own."

It was pretty obvious what the man was doing in the house. HE WAS CALLING 911!!!!!

GUH wrote:

It goes to show you people: alcohol is an ill to society. Unfortunately our experiment with banning alcohol in the United States failed, but it shows that once you begin a great evil, it is extremely difficult to be rid of it.

Never drink, not even a sip. It will tempt you to great evils. It leads to divorces, car accidents, financial issues, and a life of sin and abuse. This man is just one victim of millions of the cursed drink...

I tend to think that you are trolling, but alcohol is not the evil, just anything other object that can destroy us is not the evil (guns, sex/porn, gambling, hard drugs, etc.). People have a damn choice, and the object does not choose them. As most folks, I've known a number of alcoholics, and alcohol rarely is the root cause of the problem. They got other unstable mental and emotional shit going on. Yea sure, I might be talking out of my a$$, but don't chalk up society's ills to a damn derivative of grain products. People cause their own ills. I can't stand the idea that inanimate objects cause problems for people.

crazy person wrote:

I tend to think that you are trolling, but alcohol is not the evil, just anything other object that can destroy us is not the evil (guns, sex/porn, gambling, hard drugs, etc.). People have a damn choice, and the object does not choose them. As most folks, I've known a number of alcoholics, and alcohol rarely is the root cause of the problem. They got other unstable mental and emotional shit going on. Yea sure, I might be talking out of my a$$, but don't chalk up society's ills to a damn derivative of grain products. People cause their own ills. I can't stand the idea that inanimate objects cause problems for people.

You are right in a sense and wrong in a sense. Yes, it all comes down to the person, whether he or she chooses to drink and how much that person does it/ how that person reacts to it/ habits, etc... But the fact of the matter is that alcohol has a supremely destructive impact on the body, mind (and I would say soul, even to those who will call me a nutjob, because I believe in God). Yes, there are always problems without alcohol, but alcohol makes those problems much worse!

In buying and consuming alcohol, you are wasting your time, your money, your money, your health, and quite possibly your live and/or the lives of other people- even innocents. Think about the man in this article: he had problems, yes- he was a runner, had a dream to make the Olympic games, and due to a set of circumstances he was denied this dream.

We human beings are capable of succumbing to weakness: when we lose our jobs, our spouses/ close ones, or other bad things, we feel angry, sad, despair, humiliated etc..., and in these emotions, self-control goes out the window.

So when his dream of making the Olympic Games did not come true, the man needed some way of relieving his bad feelings. Unfortunately the unconsious way of doing so was by drinking, a habit he already had. What did that earn him? A divorce, bankruptcy, job loss, useless nostalgia... is that a life to live?

That is why it is better never to even start. If you have, it's best to stay away from it. My words may convince few, but you've heard me and it is your choice as to what you will make of it.

someone new wrote:

Unfortunately, he hasn't. Here's an article from last month...

http://www.gazette.com/articles/police-99954-morning-arrested.html

Wrong Richard Martinez, a name that in that part of Colorado probably has as many phone-book entries as John Smith. The runner is 48, not 46.

Ft Fun Foo wrote:

I generally agree with you about booze. It is mostly for the birds and not worth the downside. It's mostly a scourge. Nothing against light social drinking, for those that can control it, but anybody that has alcoholic close friends or family knows how bad this shit is. The problem with light social drinking is that is where all drinkers start.

Precisely. People may engage in "light social drinking" when their life is stable. When it isn't, more than likely that sip or two will become several bottles and the problems will worsen. I would think have seen that when Sammy Wanjiru's troubles became known to the world.

Like I said, alcohol is society's illness. Plenty of statistics on marital, financial, traffic, and health problems are the proof for this.

GUH wrote:

And alcohol limits your ability to exert self-control.

No it doesn't, but it makes for a convenient excuse.

Sounds like Rich just couldn't do the 9-5 life, possibly even without the alcohol.

I mean as hard as it may sound to some of you, what you consider a good, normal life, some of us can't handle the monotony of and will do almost anything to try and escape or find a life that is void of regular routine.

I wonder...

If his addictive type personality made him be able to train like he did and become the runner he was....

What happenned to his kid? If he good childhood and had a good coach....I wonder if there was untapped talent there that was not fully developed.

Blowing.Rock Master wrote:

GUH wrote:

And alcohol limits your ability to exert self-control.

No it doesn't, but it makes for a convenient excuse.

Ha. You are in denial. I would think that you'd know better.