The recent headlines about the selling of three two beer versus full strength beer in Colorado have got me thinking. The political, economical and social ramifications of selling full or half strength beer conveniently aside, it got me thinking about the Freedom of Drinking. Given its nature, I understand the difficult and finicky task of regulating, as well as allowing the mass consumption of alcohol, and I won’t pretend to know how to do so. But I do take offense in not being able to consume it as a human being, that is to say, whilst Walking!
I believe it is my natural instinct and right to walk, with or without purpose, from place to place. Just as Nature dictates that the wonderful byproduct of yeast eating sugar is alcohol, it also dictates that I am a conscious biped, meant to walk on two legs, aware and appreciative of that fact and many more. Walking connects us not only to our natural self, but to Nature itself, in that it is definitively done out of doors. It is as natural an act as eating (which, strangely, we’re allowed to do with reckless abandon), or speaking or, to a subtler extent, drinking.
I happen think that as a human it’s my natural privilege to drink, and when and where I am pleased to do so, within reason of course (and certainly not while operating any sort of machine made by man). That Nature ferments sugar into alcohol is an evolutionary gift to us, and like all true gifts, it is best enjoyed in the giver’s presence. Restricting ourselves to exclusively drinking inside a man-made structure is an insult, to walk out the door, into the world that birthed us drink in hand a celebration!
So I say this, let politicians and business people argue about the business and politics of drinking and be thankful that they do so. In return, let us enjoy the Freedom of Drinking, and plead to the powers that be to allow us to do so Walking, humbly, through the Natural World.
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