Every month 'tournée minérale'

I look with wonder and admiration at the 'tournée minérale' which has just started. More surprised than anything else actually. Surprised because it gets so much attention, because it deserves so much attention. After all, alcohol is a hard drug. This storm of attention, even the fact that I'm writing about it now, is proof of that.

If it weren't a hard drug, it wouldn't be so hard to stay away from it. Then no one would be surprised by a month without it. Precisely because it is so difficult, however, whoever abstains for a month now gets a big thumbs up. At the same time, however, it is a socially accepted hard drug. One that we accept and laugh about.

Who doesn't laugh at the many videos you see on YouTube of extremely drunk (by the way, I've never seen a drunk ladder, but that's beside the point) people sleeping in the gutter while rolls of toilet paper are stuck in their backside? Who doesn't look sympathetically at the drunk teenager who comes out of the youth party tent, vomits his excess alcohol, and crawls back in on hands and knees to immediately replenish the lost liters of poison (or rather, barely on his feetstanding)?

On cigarettes, we stick 'this can cause your death,' but with alcohol, it's at most 'use in moderation.' However, alcohol does kill. Not only the life of the drinker but also the lives of those who have to live with them, as far as possible. Or even worse, it snatches away the lives of traffic victims of drunk hit-and-run drivers, for whom zero tolerance is still not implemented.

We wage a 'war on drugs,' but at the end of the action, we all go for a pint, don't we? When are we going to consider the social cost of alcohol abuse? Is it because the beer was given to us by monks that we have come to see it as a Christian virtue?

Wonder for those who don't drink

It still surprises me that a Facebook post 'I'm participating in Tournée Minérale' now gets so many likes. The surprise grows even more when I hear the NSZ (Dutch SME organisation) argue 'yes, but let's plan this well, because otherwise, it costs money and jobs.' For a month now, people are being creative, and you can finally drink more than just cola or plain water, if you want to skip the whole range of alcoholic flavors.

But I cherish even more surprise when I tell for the umpteenth time that one should not give me a bottle of wine when I come to speak at an event. Even more so when I have a business lunch and let the wine list pass me by. Not that I'm the only one at the table who doesn't drink. You see that more often. But 'the others' don't drink at lunchtime to still get some work done in the afternoon (which says a lot about those who do drink during lunch).

I often get asked if it's for health reasons that I no longer drink. Because people would find that a pity but still understand. If I then explain that it's a free choice from my faith, then it's as if I'm saying “come on guys, pull out all the stops to seduce me”.

Choosing Tournée Minérale every month

For me, it's Tournée Minérale every month. I can tell you right away where I like to go for lunch because they serve one (perhaps a maximum of two) non-alcoholic aperitifs, or the bars where a non-alcoholic mocktail is more than orange juice with a straw and a little umbrella. I would already be happy if the call to creatively put non-alcoholic drinks on the menu now would become permanent.

I admire the people participating in this alcohol-free month. Let everyone see that you don't need alcohol to have fun. You might be crossing off water days on your calendar now, but try to make your detox a moment of reflection as well. Perhaps you'll conclude that the 'tournée minérale' (alcohol-free period) doesn't have to stop for you either? I'd be happy to give you addresses for good mocktails.