The Problem with Letting Myself Know What I see

            This weekend I was troubled again when I ran into an old friend, not a close friend, but someone I have known socially for decades and also worked with. This person is brilliant, no question, and truly gifted in his/her profession. I run into him/her socially several times a year, on holidays and for special event. The thing is, the last several times that we have met, this person has been, well, some degree of drunk, and at a time and place when others were not. We are past a certain age. Wild parties are more than infrequent. Several events where we met were dry. Isn’t the definite smell of alcohol and any degree of immoderate behavior more troubling at such? 

            I am also troubled by my response, as least to date. I have said nothing, to anyone. My history makes me sensitive—aware of drunkenness, both the extreme fraternity sort and the quiet, continuously pickled sort. It’s easy to discount what I notice because I am sensitive—that perception problem again. The other side of "sensitivity” is being able to recognize when someone may well be on a road I have been down before, and watched my loved ones walk? But it’s so unpleasant, so difficult to say something. And, really, how does one say such a thing? Surely not at a party, and not to someone who’s already been drinking. Following through, moving from the beginning created by acknowledging my concerns to myself and in writing is to attempt a private conversation about them with this person.

            I cannot tell myself such a habit is probably harmless. And, yes, a glass of wine with dinner smells differently on a person than does a daily bottle of wine, or whatever spirits are someone’s pleasure. I have seen the end from the beginning. I could be wrong that this person’s on that road, but I could also be right. I need to act on what is troubling me in a way that is discreet but definite. As I post this, I am secretly hoping someone I know will read it, know who I am talking about (thereby affirming my perception), and offer to go with me. Probably not. Since this blog is not currently linked to my facebook, certainly not.More likely, there’s some other troubling drinker my readers know that they need talk with.