The alcohol and drug addicts needs a less cruel society
Sober people can avoid embarrassing situations at all costs while the drunkards or drug abusers invite them.
Similarly, those of us who would want to develop a strong sense of personal responsibility fight to grow psychologically while others look for scapegoats in drugs and alcohol.
All these are choices we make from the free chance God has provided as with and end up influencing our lives and those of others positively or negatively.
Talking of alcohol and embarrassment, an unpleasant incident I observed recently still lingers in my mind.
A close friend of my family and me recently lost his loving wife and as it is expected from the society, people came in large numbers to offer their emotional and financial support.
This man has always been a good drunkard, full of fun to be with when high, but this was obviously a time when all of us expected him to postpone the bottle till further notice.
See, he really was in dire need of cash donations, but the more people donated; the less he cared about storming in the room where the prayer and burial gathering were being held completely intoxicated.
You can imagine what the contributors of all this cash thought about his ill habit, considering that he was really in need of help.
It was truly a bad impression he created of him, but this actually did not register as shameful anywhere in his conscious mind, as it did in ours.
This is what drug abuse and alcohol addiction does to the victims, such that they would not give a hoot about morality or discipline.
Rules of doing the right thing at the right time place and choosing the words to use or not to, seldom hang on their intoxicated minds.
Just like ever, people were quick to talk spitefully amongst themselves and even wondered if they were contributing money to buy him beer or honor the diseased last days.
I too did not quite understand why he acted this way, but deep inside I told my self that probably, this extreme drinking was just a way of dealing with pain other than shedding tears in front of all those strangers and friends.
When people from the wider society are not happy that they offered their monetary help to an irresponsible person as him, a lot of bad things follow.
This is why I feel that the societal judgment on cases of drug abuse and alcohol addiction is not only unfair but also very harsh.
I am not saying that my friend was right to show such disrespect during his wife's final moments, but I feel that a wise elderly man should have taken that opportunity to reason with him.
Surprisingly, he happens to be a man who can listen attentively and with greater understanding and patience, he would have acted differently then and reform in the future.
Now that he learnt what he did those nights from the same rumor that went far and wide and ending in his own ears, his drinking problem is not getting any better, considering that, the same society expects him to remarry soon.
Is this not what many of us do? You know feeling that, these addicts are too sinful, lost, irreparable, irresponsible and useless for our status in life.
We are all in a long life journey, and some of us are better equipped with the right psychological tools to survive the tough times whereas others are weak and need our unconditional support, like the alcohol and drug abuse addicts!
Similarly, those of us who would want to develop a strong sense of personal responsibility fight to grow psychologically while others look for scapegoats in drugs and alcohol.
All these are choices we make from the free chance God has provided as with and end up influencing our lives and those of others positively or negatively.
Talking of alcohol and embarrassment, an unpleasant incident I observed recently still lingers in my mind.
A close friend of my family and me recently lost his loving wife and as it is expected from the society, people came in large numbers to offer their emotional and financial support.
This man has always been a good drunkard, full of fun to be with when high, but this was obviously a time when all of us expected him to postpone the bottle till further notice.
See, he really was in dire need of cash donations, but the more people donated; the less he cared about storming in the room where the prayer and burial gathering were being held completely intoxicated.
You can imagine what the contributors of all this cash thought about his ill habit, considering that he was really in need of help.
It was truly a bad impression he created of him, but this actually did not register as shameful anywhere in his conscious mind, as it did in ours.
This is what drug abuse and alcohol addiction does to the victims, such that they would not give a hoot about morality or discipline.
Rules of doing the right thing at the right time place and choosing the words to use or not to, seldom hang on their intoxicated minds.
Just like ever, people were quick to talk spitefully amongst themselves and even wondered if they were contributing money to buy him beer or honor the diseased last days.
I too did not quite understand why he acted this way, but deep inside I told my self that probably, this extreme drinking was just a way of dealing with pain other than shedding tears in front of all those strangers and friends.
When people from the wider society are not happy that they offered their monetary help to an irresponsible person as him, a lot of bad things follow.
This is why I feel that the societal judgment on cases of drug abuse and alcohol addiction is not only unfair but also very harsh.
I am not saying that my friend was right to show such disrespect during his wife's final moments, but I feel that a wise elderly man should have taken that opportunity to reason with him.
Surprisingly, he happens to be a man who can listen attentively and with greater understanding and patience, he would have acted differently then and reform in the future.
Now that he learnt what he did those nights from the same rumor that went far and wide and ending in his own ears, his drinking problem is not getting any better, considering that, the same society expects him to remarry soon.
Is this not what many of us do? You know feeling that, these addicts are too sinful, lost, irreparable, irresponsible and useless for our status in life.
We are all in a long life journey, and some of us are better equipped with the right psychological tools to survive the tough times whereas others are weak and need our unconditional support, like the alcohol and drug abuse addicts!
