By Natalia TROFYMOVA, The Day
We are used to seeing people lying in the street. We hurry past, for we
have more important things on our mind. No, we are not cruel or heartless,
we just have no time, courage, or conviction to pay any further attention.
We just mentally shift the responsibility onto someone else's shoulders,
even though we are worried, but only somewhere deep in our subconscious.
And we hurry on, past the prostrate figure. And then perhaps an old woman
passing by will stop, make the sign of the cross, and try to see if the
man lying down is OK and ask if he needs help. Then she will spot an empty
bottle nearby. Another reason to stop, collect it, and then sell to buy
a loaf of bread.
Alcoholism in today's Ukrainian society is increasingly an indicator
of not only overall despair and degradation, but also of humanness. We
spot a man prostrate on asphalt and we have mixed emotions: shame, grief,
and scorn. We would surely not allow ourselves to lie there, just like
that, we are different. A young lady exuding a strong French perfume aroma
will quickly sidestep a prone figure, casting a fleeting disgusted glance,
on her way to flag down a taxi, thinking to herself, now isn't it horrible
that we have so many bums like that?
Some time later perhaps a man walking past will recognize the man on
the asphalt as his next-door neighbor (now to think that he is there, lying
down like that; we always thought of him as so very decent!) and call an
ambulance (thank God, I don't have to use the phone card to make the call!).
A small crowd will gather (You sure he is alive? Yes, he is breathing,
isn't he? Oh, but he is so besotted and the smell!) and then most will
leave. End of the show. No DOA record this time. The ambulance arrived
soon enough. Verdict: same as diagnosed by the crowd: dead drunk.
PS: The State Statistics Committee says 702,700 individuals were
on record as habitual drinkers and delirium tremens cases with Ukrainian
medical institutions in late 1998. 7,989 died as a result of alcohol poisoning.







