I've had my own troubles and known so many others. I sympathize.
I'll say this to anyone who has never struggled with addiction: You don't know what it's like. You can't. You might be able to imagine an approximation but without experiencing it, you can't really know what a demon it is. You just don't have a point of reference. And I say that as one with a relatively mild addiction to alcohol. I'm out of control but it isn't that bad. I go through periods of drinking more than I should and in times of stress it can really rear its ugly head but I beat it down most of the time. It's a negative influence on my life but not all that bad. It's manageable. Now people like GC's friend, I don't know what it's like for them because as much as I've experienced the demon of addiction, it's never had anywhere near that powerful effect on me. People like that are victims - pure and simple. Perhaps they could have avoided their fate had they made the right decisions but they didn't understand what they were up against. Until YOU are addicted, you just don't get it.
There was a terrible episode (IMHO) of the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation which dealt with this. It was about two civilizations in a single star system where one planet (the entire population) was addicted to drugs and the other were drug pushers. A young Wesley Crusher voices his misunderstanding about why one would use a drug when they know it will ruin them. Security officer Tasha Yar (who had a very difficult childhood and young adulthood) explains that at first, you take it because it makes you feel good. But it's insidious. Before long, your not taking it to feel good. You need it to avoid feeling bad. Most Star Trek fans consider it an absolutely cringe-worthy scene - the worst example of preaching. But based on my experience, I would bet everything I own that whoever wrote the dialog for that scene had his or her own experience with addiction because what the Tasha Yar character said absolutely nails it. It starts off as something that makes you feel good and progresses to something you can't do without to avoid feeling bad. It progresses to that point stealthily. You never see it coming. Then it has you by the balls and you are helpless against it.
https://youtu.be/3K6n-QFm7Pc
I'll say this to anyone who has never struggled with addiction: You don't know what it's like. You can't. You might be able to imagine an approximation but without experiencing it, you can't really know what a demon it is. You just don't have a point of reference. And I say that as one with a relatively mild addiction to alcohol. I'm out of control but it isn't that bad. I go through periods of drinking more than I should and in times of stress it can really rear its ugly head but I beat it down most of the time. It's a negative influence on my life but not all that bad. It's manageable. Now people like GC's friend, I don't know what it's like for them because as much as I've experienced the demon of addiction, it's never had anywhere near that powerful effect on me. People like that are victims - pure and simple. Perhaps they could have avoided their fate had they made the right decisions but they didn't understand what they were up against. Until YOU are addicted, you just don't get it.
There was a terrible episode (IMHO) of the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation which dealt with this. It was about two civilizations in a single star system where one planet (the entire population) was addicted to drugs and the other were drug pushers. A young Wesley Crusher voices his misunderstanding about why one would use a drug when they know it will ruin them. Security officer Tasha Yar (who had a very difficult childhood and young adulthood) explains that at first, you take it because it makes you feel good. But it's insidious. Before long, your not taking it to feel good. You need it to avoid feeling bad. Most Star Trek fans consider it an absolutely cringe-worthy scene - the worst example of preaching. But based on my experience, I would bet everything I own that whoever wrote the dialog for that scene had his or her own experience with addiction because what the Tasha Yar character said absolutely nails it. It starts off as something that makes you feel good and progresses to something you can't do without to avoid feeling bad. It progresses to that point stealthily. You never see it coming. Then it has you by the balls and you are helpless against it.
https://youtu.be/3K6n-QFm7Pc
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
