Of slaves and slave drivers…

As the festive season fast approached I could not wait to take my two-week long holiday, since that is the longest period of the whole year which I get  paid for not actually working.
Yes, I could not wait to leave the job as I viewed my employers as hardcore slave drivers and yes, we would have been the slaves, moving to the crack of their whips, but I had something else coming.
As the reality of the festive season kicked in one might say it was one that was marred by late nights and heavy drinking sprees here in Windhoek. Doing what most young people know as “sunrising”, my friends and I went on a 24-hour spree of drinking and not sleeping. This carried on for a whole day as if there is no meaning to life.
It is through this holiday season that I realised employers are not the slave drivers but in actual fact it is alcohol that takes the cake. Slave driver in the sense that after an individual indulges in it, one tends to become a slave of it by nature, with irrational behaviour and decisions.

In an instant I would decide to go out, but nothing productive was out there to do except to have a few beers with a few friends. In doing so I had the opportunity to go to a lot of places from the posh surburbs in Windhoek to even the slummiest part of Katutura. One thing was evident though, every one from those areas was a slave to the bottle.
Now the problem with a slave master like the bottle, as evident throughout the whole festive season, is that robberies and violent acts by some people become the order of the day after tasting the  “devils nectar.”
Illicit brews (Tombo) which cost a mere N$4 were being mass produced in every alley way in Katutura were these were selling like hot cakes. Unfortunately due to their availability (money wise) those who do not complain about slave drivers at work found a cheaper refuge to buy their brew during the festivities leading to more drinking sprees.
At one point I saw someone getting beaten to a pulp in Katutura, simply because he had disrespected his fellow guzzler. To make it worse it was a dispute that could have been avoided if they had not been intoxicated. Up to now I do not think that very young gentleman made it into the new year and if he did, he must have made it with a bruised face, a couple of broken ribs as well as a broken ego.
That was a perfect example of how alcohol simply made a victim of it slave tailing antics.
This type of alcohol induced aggression is something I would simply avoid, but when it happens on the floor right in front of you, it is hard to ignore. At some point during the holiday, I also had the opportunity to experience how other cultures celebrate the festive season and I was impressed by how the importance of family and loved ones, especially when the proverbial slave driver was not around.
At one point one of my close friends became another slave of alcohol when he decided to take his car into a pond full of water assuming maybe his car would simply transform into a submarine. Even though we had cautioned him not to take those actions he just felt the urge to do so since he was under the influence. I would be wrong to say that everyone is a slave to the bottle as some of the individuals I came across handled their liquor quite well and actually spent some quality time with their loved ones. The armed forces also should be commended on how they handled themselves to control those who had been driven into the abyss.  It was clear that the bottle ruled at most festivities as again most fatalities either on the road or on the streets were alcohol related. Even though the statistics show that there were less accidents and less crime this season, it does not rule out the abuse of alcohol.
Since so many people believe that their employer is a slave driver one should just ponder on what they did this past festive season and how so many willingly went down that route where the bottle actually made them a slave in their own bodies. Ultimately, if your boss is slave driving you it is for a reason. You will get paid at the end of the month unlike the dear bottle who drives you but does not give anything in return.