non-alchoholic drinks & lifestyle

what's our latest food affair?

chicken mandy, lamb kabsa, falafel, hommus, babaganoush etc ... Arab food! all in good memory of the original cuisine in Mekah. personally, i prefer the one in Mekah :o)

we've been visiting Wadi Hadramawt on Jalan Ampang, Sahara Tent & Zam Zam  in Section 9, Shah Alam.

all are good with individual hits & misses.

we were at Zam Zam again tonight but this time it's take-away.

while waiting for our order, i observed the other patrons. on most tables i see similar bottles of non-alchoholic drinks.

two things bothered me when i saw this.

one:
we know we can't drink alchoholic drinks but we're making way for non-alchoholic/sparkling drinks. are they really 100% true? maybe we don't get drunk from drinking them but .... i don't know. am abit unsure about the whole thing.

two:
the other thing that is bothering me is that we are introducing the western culture to our young ones. ok, you're not drinking the real thing but you are mimicking the gestures. these 'beverages' come is similar shaped bottles. soon, holding a beer bottle won't feel wrong because your hands are used to holding a similar bottle.
i've even seen families drinking sparkling drinks raising their glasses wishing 'cheers!' just for fun! adults can reason out, 'oh... it's just for fun'. but what about the young ones? the ones who are just joining in for fun.the youngs ones who think this is real, this is how & what they should drink to celebrate.

what i see in the future for these youngsters is that they become accustom to the culture of raising glasses, 'cheers' and holding similar beer-shaped bottles. who will check what they drink when they grow older? soon enough they will leave the nest to pursue studies/work, facing peer pressure (or any pressure for that matter) and soon 'GRADUATE' from holding/drinking non-alchoholic drinks to the real ones because of familiarity? how would they know how a real beer tastes when it's just a different taste from the non-alchoholic drinks they have had. getting drunk? hmm... once they're hooked on the taste, getting drunk is just a side-effect. and if religion is not strong in their hearts, drinking will go on and on ....

i shudder at the thought and am also not surprise if it (already) happens.

look at how our youngs ones live their lives today? it doesn't matter race. we are all influenced by the western culture through the media. as parents/the older generation (wiser?), we should set a better example and not get caught in the hype ourselves and instill stronger faith in our religion. what we do & digest does have implications.

there are many other drinks we can drink & ways to celebrate. lets not mimick the western custom/style if it can harm our religion, being & future.

i am only a small being but i hope my views will create awareness and help others to make better decisions.