May 11, 2018 | By Tim Stoddart
You Drank The Same Beer I Drank…
Addiction Resources Personal Addiction Recovery StoriesI came across this poem on social media written by a young women and felt stopped in my tracks. It had me reminiscing to the days before alcohol ceased to be a luxury, and back to the days of ignorance and bliss when I would turn a blind eye to the pain and despair that was to come, which as now turned to joy and gratitude.
Stop Everything You’re Doing And Read This
You drank the same beer I drank.
You smoked the same pot I smoked.
You even tried the same line of white stuff someone put in front of you at a party.
You were able to walk away and not take it to the extreme.
Since I have the disease of addiction, I will spend the rest of my life either struggling to stay high or fighting to stay clean.
As children, we don’t decide we would rather be an addict instead of a cop.
You don’t see children pretending that their dolls and stuffed animals are dope sick.
When is the last time you talked to a little girl who told you she couldn’t wait to grow up so she could turn tricks to feed the insatiable hunger of her drug addiction?
My best friend didn’t tell me about exciting plans to become homeless.
My friend didn’t blow out her candles as a child wishing for a substance use disorder because she couldn’t wait for the day her children were taken into foster care.
Nobody wants to have substance use disorder.
Some of us just do.
So always remember:
You made those same choices, too.
You just got lucky that it was me and not you.
If you still have doubts, you can take those up with the Center for Disease Control or the United States Surgeon General. They have classified addiction as a disease, but then again… I am sure you know more about it than they do, right?
We Will Accept You
I pray that you don’t have to re-evaluate these opinions because you find out your child or parent is an addict. If you do, just know that we will accept you into our community. We will help your loved one. Do you know why we would do that? Because we are good people who just want the chance to live like everyone else.
So please, before you write another post bashing people who are suffering, think about it. Not only are you hurting the people who have the disease, you could be hurting everyone that loves them. You have people on your friends list or might overhear you at work who have children who are suffering right this moment from addiction. What did they do to deserve the awful things you put out into the universe that do nothing but perpetuate hate and judgment?