[yarddog]

My Grandfather was a third generation American. His ancestors came from the Island of Colonsay. He was a typical Scotsman in that he loved the Whisky. He was as fine a man who ever lived and farmed over 1000 acres in the Florida Panhandle.

Although he was successful I wonder what he could have accomplished if he had been sober more often. He liked Scotch but preferred moonshine produced by one of his neighbors and close friends.

[VOA]

Although he was successful I wonder what he could have accomplished if he had been sober more often.

I've asked the same question of some fellows I've met...and also asked
myself if they'd gotten as much done if they'd stayed sober.
I'm not encouraging drinking, but I look as someone like Winston Churchill who said
something like "I've gotten much more from alcohol than alcohol has gotten from me!"

That sort of thought is probably dangerous rationalization, but I can't
help wondering if for folks like Churchill maybe the booze was the lubricant that
kept them going when they were loaded down with the weight of the world.
(but I'm sure the number of people who tried that strategem and came to ruin
is far higher...)

[AnAmericanMother]

I wonder what he could have accomplished if he had been sober more often.

"God invented whiskey so the Irish wouldn't conquer the world."

It's as true of the Highland Scots (who are really Irish) as it is of the Irish that they have to watch it with the Demon Rum. I swear there's a gene in these bloodlines that confers both a hollow leg and real susceptibility to alcoholism. I've already warned my kids that with almost pure Highland blood on one side and half aboriginal Irish and half German on the other, they're going to have to really be careful. That was my excuse amongst my hard-drinking compadres in college, so I hope my kids'll use it too!