The Beat of a Different Drummer – A Musician’s Liberation from Alcoholism
Joseph Hunt
Although already in my 80s, I remain active as a music instructor and jazz drummer in Cambridge, Massachusetts. My interest in music was inspired by my older brother, who practiced clarinet. Listening to his jazz records together, my passion for music was ignited. I grew up loving my family, but its relationship was bitterly bruised by alcohol. My father served as a physician in New Guinea during World War II, but after he returned home from the war, he never talked about his experiences. His unspoken mental wounds surfaced in the form of alcoholism, a gene that runs in our family.
Although my father realized his drinking harmed our family, he was unable to control himself. My brother had similar issues with alcohol. I looked up to both my father and brother as veteran role models, but alcohol had a devastating effect on our family in many ways.
Our family were churchgoers, but seeing how belief and practice were contradicted by my parents, my faith dwindled. My remaining faith was extinguished when my prayers to keep my parents together seemed fruitless. Before I became a teenager, they divorced.
Encounter that Spurred Hope
Even though I understood what the effects of alcohol could do to one’s life, alcoholism ran deep in my veins. I too later experienced divorce due to reasons ultimately tied to alcohol.
I was unable to blame anyone or anything for my failures. Seeking to ease this mental anguish, I resorted to drinking even more.
Drinking also harmed my musical career. People would worry, “Will Joe show up sober tonight?” Fellow musicians began to lose faith in me. I felt fine while playing, but others noticed my flaws.
The addiction grew so bad that I went to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Through their guidance, I was able to quit drinking for over twenty years.
At one point, I went to Japan to teach. There I met my eventual wife, Yuka. Soon afterward, she came to Boston to study piano, and we became friends.
Sometime later, I made a big mistake. I started drinking again. I was arrested for drunk driving, stripped of my driver’s license, and my car was impounded. Without my car, I was confined in my home for three months.
Honestly, I have little memory of this point in my life—my mind was in disarray. One day, Yuka brought me a copy of Ikuro Teshima’s book, “Lecture on ‘A Psalm of Life’.”
As I read the words, my heart was touched. I once read “A Psalm of Life” in High School, but now the words of the poem sunk in for the first time.
How could someone, who is not even an English speaker, go right into a poet’s mind and convey what he truly intended?
Teshima said that to be a hero is not only about being successful in the broad stage of life, but even in a poor state where one must sleep on a pillow of camp. I was certainly in a lowly “bivouac” stage of my life. I began to realize that I needed to move forward, away from my imminent circumstances.
Reading this amazing book, I started to regain strength in my heart. With Yuka’s encouragement, we started praying together.
The Honest Prayer
Seeing how exhilarated I was, Yuka invited me to visit a Makuya family. I was interested in meeting new people with the same faith as the author.
The place she took me to was not a church, but a plain house. We were greeted by its resident, Mr. Seiichi Shinomiya, whose friendly smile and shining nature exuded a warm welcome.
His wife prepared dinner for us, and at one point we prayed together. It was not a solemn mass, but a simple offer of thanksgiving. I was enveloped in the holy atmosphere. Tears welled up in my eyes.
I started participating in the Sunday meetings at their house. When I used to go to a church, the pastor prayed for blessings for the congregation. Here, we each prayed directly to God with plain words.
I was overcome with honesty. I thought “This is how a faith toward God can be. This is what I have been looking for in my own search of faith.” Now I understood why Yuka came back glowing after Sunday meetings.
Now It’s My Turn
Since then, Yuka and I married, and I became a believer in Christ — something I never thought would happen again.
I always knew of Christ, but at one meeting, an immense energy gushed through my body when I prayed aloud, while others prayed for me. Since then, believing is no longer a matter of human determination, but of vivid experience.
Although I still have to always keep watch, I have also been able to restrain from drinking. At age of 81, I’m privileged to be able to teach and perform music. Each day I thank God for these amazing blessings. Just as I found hope at my depth of despair, I hope my life may encourage hope for another who may be facing a deadlock on their journey.
