Ethicist: People who avoid alcoholic beverages simply because they regard them as a luxury beyond their financial means should not be praised for their abstinence
Similarly, those who avoid alcohol simply because they lack the desire to partake should not be praised, unless this disinclination has somehow resulted from an arduous process of disciplining oneself to refrain from acting indiscriminately on one' s desires
The apportionment of praise and blame should be commensurate with the arduousness or ease of the lives of those who receive praise or blame.