Recently, a friend posted a picture on his Facebook page. The picture was of an alcoholic man who was asleep on the sidewalk outside my friends house in Guatemala. (The above picture is not my friends pic--gotta respect his privacy--but it's close enough.) In the comments that followed, a debate developed on whether alcohol is bad in and of itself. Here's my response:
ALCOHOL VS ALCOHOLIC
As far as the specific point you're trying to make about alcohol, I'd rather not comment on it. I do, however, want to say something more on the topic of the ALCOHOLIC. On my mission I came across a man who was asleep face down on the porch of his house. After awaking and turning to us, we (my companion and I) saw he had a dog bite on part of his eye and cheek. There was blood all over his cheek, some of which was starting to dry. (I promise this is not a Halloween story.)
Despite my companions argument that "There's no way our message will get through to him," we went into his house and taught him. A few minutes later, his little daughter quietly walked into the living room, walked to him in little, innocence-filled steps, hugged him, and said, "Papá, al fin llegaste. Te extrañé." ("Dad, you finally came. I missed you.") He started crying and said, "Por ella voy a cambiar." ("For her I'm going to change.")
Months later, a different man ran into me while I was serving in another area. He was a well groomed, clean, and healthy man. (I can't say a Latter-day Saint man, but that's not my point anyway.) He said he knew me and he was treating me like I was one of his life-long friends. After realizing I simply did not recognize him, he said, "Hermano, yo soy aquel hombre con la mordida de perro en la cara que era alcohólico." ("Brother, I am that man with the dogbite on his face who was an alcoholic.") It was then that I realized, "This really was the man the little girl (his daughter) could always see."
My point? The picture posted is of a person, not a bottle. So easy to forget that. And even easier to believe some people are beyond hope. While we don't all demonstrate it, we all want a better life. I hope that man found a "daughter" on time.
