Doctors On Call

The psychiatric emergency room I worked in was swamped with "wet" alcoholics, and I was always frustrated when I had to talk to them. I thought all they were ever looking for were "three hots and a cot" three hot meals and a place to sleep). I was a young psychiatrist at the time, and I never believed any of them really wanted to get sober. "What was wrong with them?" I'd ask myself, over a few drinks. I detested them for not being able to handle their liquor, for losing their jobs and their homes. After all, I had held onto my job; I had a place to live. "I am nothing like them," I told myself.