You Drank The Same Beer I Drank...

I 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.