Can Beer Really Save Lives? Spoiler alert … the answer is yes.
My wife has either subscribed to a service that sends her updates … or she’s scouring the interwebs every day for fun, light-hearted, sometimes comical and quirky articles about beer or the beer industry. Sometimes it’s a notice about a cool upcoming beer festival. Or maybe about Bud Light installing coolers of beer all over Cleveland to be unlocked and available should the Browns ever win a regular season game. Again, interesting, fun, and amusing. I post some of these on the various BGB channels from time to time, and I am always grateful that she is working to help me create content!
For the first time, one of those articles has inspired me to write a full post. Today she found an article in the AJC about some beer delivery drivers who saved a man’s life. The Cliff’s Notes version: they altered their normal route slightly and happened upon a man standing on a bridge about to take his own life. They stopped to see what they could do, engaging in conversation until additional assistance could arrive. One of the drivers, Kwame Anderson, was doing anything he could to connect with the distraught man … just to engage him and show him that he cared. Nothing could really get the guy to come back to the safe side of the fence and out of the reach of danger. He asked where he was from; did he have kids; was he hungry. Very little positive response. “Hey man, do you want a beer?” That did the trick. The offer of a beer opened the door to deeper conversation. Fast forward … the man climbed back over the fence and was taken to a hospital for evaluation. He is alive today … his kids still have a father … because of Coors Light.
“Some people just need an ear and a beer”
I’m the first one to poke some good-natured¬ fun at Coors Light et al. Is it beer or water … hahahaha. But this story isn’t really about beer. This is about community; about connections; about the relationships that can develop over beer. In an age where we all seem more willing to stare at a phone screen, slowly becoming zombies, there is an increasing need to connect with other people. For many of us, those connections happen over a glass of beer. I won’t judge your selection, and you won’t make fun of what I paid for my overpriced fancy craft beer. It’s the connection that matters here. Sharing beer is about creating community, a lesson I was able to experience in a massive and very real way at the Beer Bloggers Conference last week.
The man in the article above isn’t alive today because of Coors Light. His children don’t still have their father today because of some skilled psychologist/negotiator. He’s alive today because another human being took interest in him; spent time learning about him; found a common interest; and offered to share with him. This is about a person connecting with a person … nothing else. As written in the article, “Some people just need an ear and a beer.” Let’s get out there and try to be human with each other again. Have a friend who seems quiet and down or just not themselves? Offer to go grab a cup of coffee, or a glass of wine, a Coors Light, or an actual beer. (See? Couldn’t go a whole post without a little fun.) Connect and show them you care.
Here’s to you, life-saving beer delivery guy.
