(September 13, 2018 at 3:21 pm)Losty Wrote:(September 13, 2018 at 3:12 pm)emjay Wrote: Thanks, but it is a problem... always has been. Like when I was growing up, me and my family were, through our church, trying to help this homeless alcoholic get back on his feet... for years... but it brought a lot of strife and division to our family and at the end of the day, the guy didn't try to help himself, so he's still an alcoholic as far as I know. Basically there's got to be a line... where it's not worth helping someone if they're not willing to help themselves... but recognising that line has always been hard for me.
We had a friend like that. He recently died from alcohol poisoning. But even though he could never muster up the strength to help himself, I’m glad we gave him the help that we could and I don’t regret having him in our lives for the time we got to have him. The loss has been really hard on the kids but I think they’re better for having known him and lost him than they would have been never knowing him at all. He had a problem, a disease, and he couldn’t get himself out of it. Not even with all the support. But he was a good man.
Sorry for off topic rambling. It’s still hard to believe he’s gone.
ETA- oh right, I had a point lol. I think in most circumstances it’s worth it to try to help people whenever you can regardless of whether or not they deserve it.
Yes, but there's also an argument for leaving it to the pros. Our guy was also a nice guy, me and him got on very well... when he was sober... but when he was drunk... it was just, horrible, and we had to deal with both sides. Basically I think we were too close to it... we didn't need to be that close. We could have left it to charities and social workers, rather than getting directly and personally involved... which resulted in a lot of broken windows etc when he was drunk... we shouldn't have given him our address basically, and instead helped from a distance.
