Harold Lee wrote:LOL jeebus. It's just a glass of wine, beer, cigar (tobacco), or cup of coffee. We're not even talking real crazy here, all the stuff we're talking has been staples of civilization for thousands of years.
You will never know if you're missing out or not until you try them. Most people try it in their early teens and then kind of confine it to social settings as they get older, as they're all social lubricants that do their jobs well. You do alcohol or tobacco alone you'll be disappointed and it usually can turn negative and addictive. In social settings they make a huge difference making anything more enjoyable and memorable in a positive way.
I think this is unfair. He clearly
has tried the things he's interested in (beer, drinks coffee occasionally), and it's not like he's got a judgmental attitude toward people that enjoy things he's not interested in. It behooves us to afford him the same respect.
There's nothing wrong with a person just not being interested in things that many of the rest of us enjoy and first-hand experience isn't always required in order for a person to make informed decisions about what things will improve their life experience. There are hundreds of things I'll never try just because I'm not the least bit interested and that's perfectly legitimate. For example, I'll never take up scrap-booking. I just don't see anything for me there. I'm a photographer and I invest my work in the quality of the photos I produce. I have no desire to spend hours with paper and glue and markers and stamps and all of that. But, there are scrapbooking aficionados (my sisters in law, for three) who would like to say that I'm missing out on a better way of living. Whatever. I'm not going to drop a dime or a minute to find out, when that dime could go toward a better wide-angle lens and that minute could be spent doing other things I
already know are interesting to me.
It's not like better-living-through-substances is the one-and-only key to a good life or anything. Plus it just isn't true that they make everything more enjoyable and memorable in a positive way. Sometimes they just get in the way-- even in small amounts. Not everyone needs or wants a "social lubricant" to have a good time, and some people have healthier ways of coping with stress. It's not a character deficiency.
Further, avoiding tobacco is generally a good rule considering health. I've had my share of cigarettes in my drunker moments, but they hardly made my life better and I didn't have to try them in order to know that whatever perceived benefits they might offer probably wouldn't be worth the downsides. And I'm not judgy about smoking-- my best friends are all smokers and I've done a fair bit of it myself. But, I certainly would never suggest that there's something wrong with someone who never had the desire to take it up, especially considering that most smokers I know wish they had never started. Some lessons you don't have to learn for yourself.
Of course you're welcome to disagree
for yourself, but Bob is the only one in a position to know whether he's satisfied or not.
