Losing a Friend to Addiction

Ahh, it seems like it is time to write again. Lately there has been a lot going on in my life, or maybe more so for everyone else as I sit by watching it all implode. I often play counselor/therapist to many of the friends and acquaintances I accumulate over the years, but today I wanted to mull over someone close to me that is beginning to slip away. This is not all that new to me; as we all know, people come and people go. This person, although not known for the longest time, is quite the individual (or was at this point). He is considered a genius in most circles, and is very bright. He's street smart as well as book smart, and always has a plan for everything and everyone (but himself. Yes, that would be his one, true flaw. He sadly cannot take care of himself. He can not hold down a job, he can not sleep, he rarely eats half way properly, and more often than not, mixes different cocktails of drugs and alcohol to drown out his dreary existence. I understand how he feels, I really do. What I don't understand is the need to completely destroy one self in order to get that momentary relief. I'm no stranger to it, I've cut, drank, etc, etc... but never to the extent of completely dismantling my life and the lives of the people around me; the people that care for me and want to help me anyways. I've come close, I've brought things to the breaking point; but I've never gone as far as this. I guess drugs bring something different to the table though, something no one really understands unless they've been subjected to it as well. Drugs make you think different, act different, in general, become a completely different person. Don't confuse what I'm saying as the condemnation of all drugs though. Many have been shown to be good for you, mentally, spiritually, and physically. The drugs I'm speaking of are those evil, addictive, disgusting drugs that destroy people and turn them into less than nothing. Heroin, meth, crack, etc.. I've seen all of these drugs take a hold of people and destroy their, what was, relatively good existences, and turn them into gutter dwelling trash. The drug I'm currently dealing with is shiva, oh shiva. What could possibly be more addictive? I mean sure, statistically there are more addictive things such as nicotine and caffeine, (which I'm guilty of loving) but shiva can dismantle your life in half a year and turn you into a criminal, a liar, and sadly, a total loser. Who wants to do things with someone who can't talk, stand up, or even keep their eyes open? People on this drug slowly and inevitably kill themselves, and often times there is no coming back from it.

To the Brother I'm Losing:

You lie blatantly to people's faces in order to protect your "assets" when all you're really doing is destroying yourself and your relationships with everyone else around you.  I can't even talk to you like a rational person anymore because everything is irrational to you now. It's all about the drugs, it's all about your problems, it's all about you. Yet somehow, I find myself back at that doorstep, back with you in that apartment, hoping that something, that anything will turn things around for you. I just don't know how to help anymore, because there is no reasoning with an addict. There's not reasoning with someone that thinks they have things under control when they do not. There's no reasoning with someone that have given up everything just for that fleeting moment of happiness. You were my friend, my council, and my brother. I trusted you with everything, gave up so much to help you, to see that you were able to get yourself to a better tomorrow. Now the time, the compassion, the money, and the love are worthless. Worthless in the wake of this addiction destroying your mind and body like a tidal wave crashing down onto the shore.  It did not need to be this way, I really did think you had gotten a hold of yourself, you know, turned over a new leaf. I guess it was too good to be true though, that drug is obviously better than me. Better than the good times we've had, better than the talks we've had, and apparently better than the bond we shared.  So don't try to excuse yourself anymore, it's not necessary. I realize that it's not you anymore, but a sad shell of the man I once knew. I long to see the friend lost, but I dare not hold my breath. You have proven to me, that all you crave is sorrow and a very sad death.

“Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol, morphine or idealism.”

Well, doesn't that just put a depressing note on the day? I hope at very least that anyone that reads this will take with them that addiction is a terrible thing, and the best way to stop it, is to prevent it from happening in the first place.  

Shadow

YOUR ignorance is killing ME

I'm guessing you've probably heard the old saying, "ignorance is bliss" right? Most people sit around thinking, why would I want to be ignorant, that would make me stupid wouldn't it? Well you are probably stupid to begin with if you're having this conversation with yourself, but no, ignorance is not stupidity. You are not stupid for having a lack of knowledge, just uneducated. Here's the problem though; when one (lets say me in this case) wants to try and educate said ignorant person, nine times out of ten they will think that they know more than you. This is what makes you stupid. Here's a great example that occurred at work the other day (this actually got me fairly riled up). Some how or another, we got around to talking about oil, and how it wasn't going to be around forever. My co-workers were under the impression that when oil ran out, the world would be fine. WRONG! Life as we know it would collapse. Why? Because big oil is buying out all rights to anything being made as an alternative energy source. Now my co-workers were right to think that there are alternative energy sources being made or that are already made, but the problem is that it's not being put into production! So I repeatedly asked, what do you think will happen when oil runs out? Do you honestly think everything will be okay? I received varying answers, one being that we're sitting on so much oil that it won't matter in our life times. This I'm not so sure about, but just for the sake of argument I then asked, "what about your children?" A silence washed over this co-worker and I accepted it as his defeat. Sadly, a more annoying and even more ignorant co-worker (which I think is a very cool guy actually, just sadly uneducated) spoke up and kept on arguing that everything will be fine because there are alternatives. I then asked again, how will we put these alternatives into place after oil has run out? Are we magically going to be able to run our millions of cars, planes, or other forms of transportation to ship these materials? What about our way of life as it currently stands? What will we heat or houses with, light our stoves with, or simply keep the lights on with? Everything major in our nation and around the world runs off of oil, crude and natural. We won't be able to recover simply from a catastrophic event such as having no more oil just because there are alternative energy sources being found. They MUST be in place before we run out. Unfortunately my ignorant co-worker did not like this view and disregarded it as being a crazy conspiracy theorist (mainly for saying big oil buys patents and rights to alternative energy out). Luckily one co-worker was actually on my side which made the conversation a little more tolerable. This my friends, is why ignorance is bliss though. These people have fooled themselves into believing that everything will be okay because they are used to everything being done for them by someone else. I understand how they feel, I wish I could still feel the same way. Sadly, life just is not that easy for me anymore. The glass is not only half empty anymore, but someone came along and drank the rest up entirely. This is not to say there is no hope left, but please people, if not for anyone's sake but your own, pull your head out of your ass and find out what's going on around you. Who knows, you might just find that knowing about the world around you is important and interesting.


"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Just something for anyone out there reading this to chew on. This does happen to be my first blog post, so yay to me! Hopefully this reaches a few people that enjoy and appreciate it.

 Kyle (aka Shadow)