{"id":106068,"date":"2024-07-06T23:23:44","date_gmt":"2024-07-07T05:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=106068"},"modified":"2024-07-06T23:23:44","modified_gmt":"2024-07-07T05:23:44","slug":"perhaps-it-saved-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/07\/perhaps-it-saved-me.html","title":{"rendered":"Perhaps it saved me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/a>
The Newport Beach California Temple is located just a few minutes away from where I\u2019m typing.
(LDS Media Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Well, we checked off most of the items on our list during this visit to Newport Beach: \u00a0We had a meal at the restaurant (The Farmhouse<\/a>) at \u00a0Roger\u2019s Gardens<\/a>, and another one at the Beachcomber at Crystal Cove<\/a>. \u00a0I had a date milkshake at the Shake Shack<\/a> just off of the Pacific Coast Highway near Crystal Cove (overlooking the Beachcomber), just as I first began to \u00a0do with my parents back as early as I can remember, when we would drive down from our home near Los Angeles to visit my father\u2019s family in and around San Diego.\u00a0 We went out from Dana Point with Captain Dave\u2019s Dolphin Safari,<\/a> as we do on most visits. \u00a0Alas, though, we saw no whales this time. \u00a0But we watched a large pod of common dolphins \u2014 at least a hundred of them, I would guess \u2014 jumping and cavorting, as well as a pair of bottlenose dolphins, a large \u201cocean sunfish\u201d or \u201ccommon mola,\u201d<\/a> and several extremely sleepy California sea lions (a large male and a number of year-old pups) sunning themselves on a harbor buoy. \u00a0For my wife and me, though, spotting any marine wildlife is just icing on the cake (to coin a phrase); we simply love being out on the ocean in a boat.<\/p>\n
The really great aspect of the trip is that we did all of the above with members of our immediate family \u2014 and that, on Friday, we were able to host one of my late brother\u2019s sons and his family for swimming and pizza and mochi donuts<\/a> and conversation. \u00a0Southern California is, after all, my and my brother\u2019s native habitat.<\/p>\n
There were some things, though, that we just couldn\u2019t fit in. \u00a0We would love to have made our way up to Whittier and San Gabriel where my parents had their homes, and to have visited my parents\u2019 and my brother\u2019s graves. \u00a0We would have stopped in at The Hat<\/a> for the pastrami dip sandwich that I grew up with (and that I love and that my wife, well, doesn\u2019t) and at Fosselman\u2019s<\/a>, in honor of my brother, who loved their ice cream. \u00a0And I had hoped to do a session at the Newport Beach California Temple and\/or even the Los Angeles California Temple (which was \u201cmy\u201d temple when I was growing up, and where my family was sealed).<\/p>\n
Happily, barring some unforeseen mishap, there will be further opportunities.<\/p>\n
<\/a>
A sunset at Dana Point, California, taken by Mike Tilley
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Speaking of family, though not of those family members with whom I\u2019ve spent this past week: \u00a0Several people on the paternal side \u2014 the non-Latter-day Saint side \u2014 of my extended family had fairly serious problems with alcohol throughout their lives. \u00a0In one or two cases, unfortunately, their problems impacted others beside themselves.<\/p>\n
There is evidence that heredity can incline a person to chronic alcohol abuse. \u00a0So, not knowing whether I myself might have been born with a genetic proclivity in that direction, I\u2019ve always been quietly grateful that, when the time came for me to choose whether or not to drink, I had already committed myself on religious grounds, with considerable support from my faith community, not to do so. \u00a0I\u2019ve never regretted the choice even slightly. \u00a0I\u2019ve never been tempted, at all, not a single solitary time, to go back on it.<\/p>\n
A few years ago, I hosted a rather prominent non-Latter-day Saint visitor to BYU for a couple of days. \u00a0(Some here who are political junkies like me would definitely recognize his name; a Democratic activist, among other things, he was continually taking calls on one or the other of his two cell phones from well-known Democrats, including, at one point, Jimmy Carter.)<\/p>\n
Things became just a bit rocky shortly after his arrival in Provo, though. \u00a0I took him to see a short introductory film for visitors to campus which, very briefly, mentioned the lack of booze at BYU. \u00a0As soon as the film ended, he exploded in angry disbelief at what he considered our transparently dishonest propaganda. \u00a0It turns out that college alcohol abuse is a big topic for him. \u00a0When I assured him that, although there are undoubtedly exceptions, it really is true that the vast majority of BYU students don\u2019t consume alcohol, he disdainfully (and rather insultingly) wondered how much I was paid to \u201ctoe the party line.\u201d \u00a0That was, I admit, quite uncomfortable. \u00a0He soon lightened up, though, but, for the rest of his time in Provo, he kept asking surprised students what their favorite drinks were, when they had last attended a \u201ckegger,\u201d which beer they liked to take to football games, and so forth.<\/p>\n
Several days after returning to his home base in Washington DC, he wrote me a note of apology. \u00a0His conversations at BYU, and then his conversations back east\u00a0about<\/em> BYU, had finally convinced him that we weren\u2019t lying, or merely striking a pose, and that the University really is essentially an alcohol-free zone.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m rather proud of BYU and my community on that score. \u00a0Over the years, though, I\u2019ve wondered about seeming evidence that moderate consumption of wine was actually beneficial to human health. \u00a0In that event, I reasoned, perhaps the chief function of the Word of Wisdom\u2019s bar to alcohol consumption would be to serve as a token or a marker of commitment to obeying the will of God, even without evidence of temporal benefit.<\/p>\n
However, things have changed a bit in recent years. \u00a0I\u2019ve already mentioned this study here on my blog, but it bears repeating because some may have missed the news and because that news is really quite important: \u00a0\u201cNo amount of alcohol is good for your overall health, global study says\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 And this still more recent story should probably be, as it were, added to the mix: \u00a0\u201c1 in 20 deaths globally are a result of alcohol use\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 And then there are results such as these: \u00a0\u201c2016 Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatalities per 100,000 Population by State\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n
All in all, the Latter-day Saint practice of abstention from alcoholic beverages is looking very good these days, scientifically speaking.<\/p>\n
Posted from Newport Beach, California<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 Well, we checked off most of the items on our list during this visit to Newport Beach: \u00a0We had a meal at the restaurant (The Farmhouse) at \u00a0Roger\u2019s Gardens, and another one at the Beachcomber at Crystal Cove. \u00a0I had a date milkshake at the Shake Shack just off of the Pacific Coast Highway […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":62471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2145,1152,1149,37758,25417,37761],"class_list":["post-106068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-alcohol","tag-brigham-young-university","tag-byu","tag-captain-daves-dolphin-safari","tag-crystal-cove","tag-the-beachcomber"],"yoast_head":"\nPerhaps it saved me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" Well, we checked off most of the items on our list during this visit to Newport 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