I drank lots of Kool-Aid when I was kid, and got reacquainted with it two weeks ago. During a weekend work party to spruce up Camp White Branch along the McKenzie Pass Highway, cherry-flavored Kool-Aid was served two days at lunch. I had four glasses of the stuff. It quenched my thirst.
To me, Kool-Aid evokes thoughts of summer days, picnics and church potlucks. Unfortunately, the flavored drink mix is wrongfully linked to a dark November day in 1978 and the worst murder-suicide in our country’s history.
That was the day when the Rev. Jim Jones led 912 of his Peoples Temple followers to their deaths in the Guyana jungle settlement that bore his name, Jonestown. All but two died from the poisoned drink they swallowed or were forced to swallow. One of them was my sister Sharon, who was 22 when she died there.
I always cringe when I hear people use the now-common expression “drink the Kool-Aid.” According to Wikipedia, “the phrase suggests that one has mindlessly adopted the dogma of a group or leader without fully understanding the ramifications or implications.”
Time magazine writer Dan Fletcher wove it into his May 31 cover story about Facebook. “The company isn’t forcing its users to drink the Kool-Aid,” he wrote. “It’s just serving up nice cold glasses, and we’re gulping them down.”
What bothers me most is that Kool-Aid wasn’t in that deadly concoction at Jonestown. In “Raven: The Untold Story of The Rev. Jim Jones and His People,” author Tim Reiterman describes what actually was in it.
“Along one side of the building on a wooden table was a vat with the potion. Grape Flavor Aid, a Kool Aid-like drink, colored it purplish. Potassium cyanide was the poison. Liquid Valium and other drugs stood alongside it in vials.”
Kool-Aid is made by Kraft Foods. I called the company recently to see how it deals with the “drink the Kool-Aid” phrase. My message was passed on to Bridgett MacConnell, Kraft’s senior manager for beverages in the U.S., who called me from her Tarrytown, N.Y., office.
MacConnell also cringes when she hears the words “drink the Kool-Aid.” The company, however, doesn’t get defensive, nor does it not send out requests for corrections.
“It’s become ubiquitous,” she said. “The idea of trying to fight it is not worth it.”
Kool-Aid is still a popular drink, MacConnell added. “In consumers’ minds, there’s no connection between (Jonestown) and the beverage they enjoy. … Many folks don’t know about where it (the “drink the Kool-Aid” expression) originated.”
Kool-Aid was invented by Edwin Perkins in 1927 in Hastings, Neb. An annual Kool-Aid Days festival is held on the second weekend in August in Hastings.
The Kool-Aid Man mascot is also a popular character, and even earned a star on the Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame. “Everywhere we go kids love him,” MacConnell said.
Last month while visiting relatives on the San Francisco Peninsula, my mother and I drove to Alta Mesa Memorial Park cemetery in Palo Alto. Grass had grown over portions of my dad’s grave marker, so I cleaned it up. Less than a foot away is my sister’s grave. I stood over it for a minute, and had the thought I’ve always had when viewing it: She shouldn’t be dead.
I can’t change what happened at Jonestown or the fact that a grave marker at Alta Mesa bears the name Sharon Kislingbury.
For the rest of my life, however, I can do something about the bad rap that Kool-Aid continues to get. Whenever I see or hear the words “drink the Kool-Aid,” I will politely set the record straight.
