day no. 16,287: the best way to catch a falling knife

"A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right. This is common sense, really. You understand sleep when you are awake, not while you are sleeping. You can see mistakes in arithmetic when your mind is working properly: while you are making them you cannot see them.You can understand the nature of drunkenness when you are sober, not when you are drunk. Good people know about both good and evil: bad people do not know about either." — C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

The best way to catch a falling knife is to let it hit the floor. In other words, don't catch it. Pick it up when it's safe. You will only hurt yourself if you attempt to catch it before then. And at that point, depending on your injuries, you may not be able to pick it or your fingers up off the floor.

You cannot counsel a drunk while he is drunk. If he calls you at 3:00 am after last call in order to communicate that he's, "Gone and done it again," the time to work through it is not at that moment. He isn't thinking clearly and nothing productive can come of it. You need to let him hit the floor. Help him, if necessary, to hit his bed instead of his floor. Prepare some things in advance perhaps to help him with the hangover he will have in the morning. You are clear-headed, he isn't. You can see what's coming, he can't. That is why you may be of use to him tomorrow when he can understand you. But don't try to work through the sins and outs of drunkenness then and there. The time to talk through it all is after he's sobered up.