Alcohol and Cigarettes

Fatigue. "I'm tired," says my roommate here at the Newhaus--that's what we call our house here on New Street. Such is the consequence of depressant drugs I suppose... Fatigue.

Oh, opposite of coffee, thou art alcohol--drug that makes one stupid, drug that makes one tired.

Drug that makes one make terrible decisions on a Friday or perhaps a Saturday night.

Or perhaps a Sunday afternoon, if the occasion is right.

"Opposites attract," to quote Paula Abdul, or maybe to quote everybody else who has said it. I guess I'll even quote myself here.

To depress is to "make sad or gloomy," or, more importantly, to "lower in amount or value." (Dictionary.com)

Oh, such is the opposite of the stimulating nature of caffeine, or of nicotine--of the aforementioned substances that bring one to a state of acceleration.

But is it?

I must question, here on a Tuesday night--after sharing a few beers with friends--if this truly is opposite at all? To make sad or gloomy--to lower in amount or value--is this not, in certain senses, the effect of coffee and cigarettes? Yes, they may stimulate, but eventually their effect must expire--eventually one must experience the feeling of "coming down," the feeling of losing such stimulants in one's blood stream. Do these stimulants not bring one to a point of sadness, to a point of gloom--do they not precipitate the ensuing period of sobriety, a state lower than that of the accelerated?

These questions must be asked--a stimulant enhances the nervous system, a depressant numbs it-- but both effect it regardless. I must pose the question--is alcohol equivalent to caffeine in the same sense as the soldier is equivalent to the artist?

Surely.

Just a few thoughts.

And goodnight.

-CS