[July 26, 2016] The story goes back a long way. I remember my father talking about the town drunk who was always at the bar on Tuesday nights. We grew up in a small town in Northeast Louisiana where, in the 1950s and 60s, liquor bars outnumbered churches about 2 to 1 and where everyone knew each other. My dad advised me to never buy a drunk a beer.
This was his way of helping me be a better man. Never should we add to someone’s troubles and being drunk was a sure indicator of a person with problems. The story is near legend in the county. Apparently the drunk was a respected local General Practitioner (GP) medical doctor who was both well liked and for decades had helped many a folk in that part of the state.
For some unknown reason to any of us, he fudged a bit on how he medically treated his patients and was caught padding his expenses to insurance companies and Medicare. For this he was fined and later suspended for a time from practicing medicine. Of course, the town was aghast for such a lapse in ethical judgment but all was forgiven as for as we all knew.
Remember that small towns are more than a place where you have your home, it’s different than cities. Small towns are where you live; your entire life is on display and there is no anonymity. If you fail, everyone knows … but it’s how you handle failure that makes you a man. This GP, sadly, didn’t take to well to everyone knowing about his conviction and probationary status.
That’s where drinking at the local bar began and soon became something of a way of life. It was sad to see a man drink away his money and dignity. His daughter, a student in my grade and a good friend, was embarrassed and sometimes missed school after other students made fun of her. Everyone in their family suffered. We had to go elsewhere to find a good medical doctor.
Many years later after I’d forgotten all about the advice of my father and the sad story of the GP until I saw a movie that brought all those memories rushing back. The movie Hearts in Atlantis (2001) starring Anthony Hopkins is based on a book with the same name by Stephen King and is about a boy named Bobby who befriends an older man with special powers. A line in the movie while at a local bar is “never give a drunk a beer.” Bobby asks, “what does it mean?”
I’d asked the same question of my dad and now with my father approaching 90 years of age he clearly remembers the GP but not the “drunk.” Time does work wonders. But I never forgot either the story or the sage advice to never add to people’s troubles.
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