THE FOLLOWING IS THE MESSAGE WRITTEN BY JAIME QUINTANA, FROM DHL.
Today Saturday morning, Rodrigo Quiros called me to tell me that our co-worker at DHL, Jorge Centeno, courier, and brother of Pate Centeno of Saprissa, died last night victim of a drunk who ran over him in Tibas. Another one more. One more victim of what is said everywhere to have become an epidemic or a kind of civil war: drunk drivers versus pedestrians and cyclists. The bad thing is that in this unequal contest the latter always lose out and there is not even the slightest sign that a solution is on the way.
Jail for violators? Of course. It is a real shame that in our country a person driving intoxicated, even after having caused an accident or a hit and run, should not spend at least one night in jail. In the news they even make it sound like a joke and we all laugh at the drunken priest, the lady who can’t even speak, the teachers sleeping against the car while the cruzrojistas pick up their victim. It is a shame and it makes me very angry for Jorge and for all those who, like him, have died for the same cause. Laws must be passed and enforced. Without politicking. Is the national effort against dengue being discussed? What are they going to ask for? That the monopoly of the Ministry of Health be opened to fumigate the neighborhoods of Limon? If this part of the solution continues to be postponed because of any congressman, imbecile, doctrinaire or bigot, lives will continue to be cut, spaces will continue to be limited for people who, like many of us, do not even want to walk the streets for fear of being one more in the statistics.
And where do we leave the guaro? Drinking liquor here and in almost the entire planet is an inalienable right, I suppose, and as proof of that, here the Government itself manufactures it and yes, it does it through a state monopoly that perhaps should be a better target for the Fathers of the Fatherland. It would be illusory to think that the consumption of liquor is going to be reduced suddenly with campaigns or messages on TV, no matter how good the intentions may be. Alcoholism is a disease and to be clear, in many cases it is a fatal disease. Don’t you believe it? Ask Jorge Centeno, because that is what we are seeing in the streets. What happens is that contrary to most of the other diseases, here the thing is diffuse because it is by packages: either the patient dies from cirrhosis or against a pole, or his victims die from collision or run over. Or sometimes they all go away together, the driver and his victims. And who is responsible? The deputy, chance, the driver or a disease? Or all of them?
There are many reasons to have a drink or a beer. There are also occasions when there is a lot of celebration and then there is a lot of drinking. Sometimes you don’t celebrate at all and just drink a lot. The only thing I can say, proven by experience, is that for a number of us who drink are the same things that we find funny to tell, such as “peeling our tails”, being last at the party, falling down dancing, falling asleep at the table, walking on rubber, and others, the symptoms of the same disease that is plaguing us. It is not a moral issue, there are many good people, men and women who live sharing the problem. It is a matter of whether or not to suffer from an addiction that, when you have it, is incurable.
Who can tell when drinking has become a problem? To begin with, it can be said that contrary to many other illnesses, the only one who can diagnose it as a disease is the patient himself. He is the only one who can know if he has a drinking problem or not. If he thinks he has one, he has to seek help because saying “I will never drink again” one day when he woke up on rubber, unfortunately, is not enough.
Alcoholism and drug addiction are indeed a worldwide epidemic, more serious and older than AIDS or bird flu. What is happening is that now it is becoming more deadly through cars. We must realize and create awareness among those around us, in the family, with friends, and at work that what we have here is a problem that goes beyond being something temporary and for which there are no simplistic solutions. What we are seeing is the old drinking epidemic, now magnified by the thousands and thousands of cars that every day increase in number on our streets. It is a matter of statistics: a century ago there would probably have been the same proportion of regular drunks in Costa Rica, only back then they did not have cars.
We must talk about it among ourselves and we must demand that the authorities fulfill their role. We must make responsible to whom it corresponds, to the drunk drivers of course, but also to the businesses that even pay the Muni for the right to take as many people as possible to the same unconsciousness at the point of discounted beers for “Christmas promotions”. This is their right, but at least out of compassion they could limit the sale to those who it is obvious to anyone that if they get into a car they are going to kill themselves or someone else.
Above all, what we can do in this time of many parties is to take responsibility for the way we drive and drink ourselves and pray that none of us are touched by the tragedy that Jorge Centeno’s family must be going through right now.
Jaime Quintana
DHL
Message to all.