Drinking, a to-do-away culture
It would have been embarrassing for the Bhutanese team lead by the Health minister attending the 68th session of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Committee meeting in Timor- Leste’s capital, Dili, or the Bhutanese citizens should be. It may have been the wise thought of the reporter, but the kuensel read “ Tobacco use is culturally accepted in Timor-Leste, just as alcohol is in Bhutan” . They are comparing our nation’s culture to what tobacco has done to theirs. So is it not time for us to learn? Bhutan, a small country, cannot afford to learn from repeated mistakes but be swift to learn from others’. Drinking may have been culture, but the time has come for us to rethink our culture. During those days, drinking was culture, yet people rarely got sick from alcohol. The amount of drink was subsidized by the manual work they had to do. They had to work in the field, defend the crops against the animals, walk, carry, and fetch. In short, everything was physical and manual. To...