The life of a much loved mother and vibrant woman from our school community was cut short recently. She was intoxicated and while resisting help to get into an ambulance, fell and hit her head and went into a coma. She died two days later. The shock followed by the tittering of gossip (yes, normal) was followed by personal introspection (normal). Perhaps you are you asking yourself, "could this have been me?" I’m sure I’m not the only person who has been told that this beautiful person had a problem with alcohol. There was no malice but it does shine a light on how our society processes that information. Out of respect for our friend, it's vitally important to dispel some common myths here. "Why couldn't they just stop?" No one sets out to or wants to become alcohol dependent. If it was as easy as "just stopping" then there would be no alcoholics. "They must have been unhappy!" No, it's purely an addiction. The brain o