Change and resistance

"Why are you drinking?" demanded the little prince.
"So that I may forget," replied the tippler.
"Forget what?" inquired the little prince, who already was sorry for him.
"Forget that I am ashamed," the tippler confessed, hanging his head.
"Ashamed of what?" insited the little prince, who wanted to help.
"Ashamed of drinking!" The tippler brought his speech to an end, and shut himself up in an impregnable silence.
And the little prince wnet away puzzled.
"The grown-ups are certianly very, very odd," he said to himself.

-Antoine e Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince