Addiction Sadness

Alcoholism is a disease this is a known fact. But a disease of the brain, the body or the spirit of someone? Addiction in any form can be horrible for the person suffering and needing help, for the friends and family enduring the effects, consequences and grief of this disease. My first roommate out of high school, Randy, passed from this life after many long years of an addiction to alcohol. He was astranged from his family and friends the last 15 years of his life. He stayed with my family for about a month about 15 years ago and was trying to get sober. When he left he had a job and a place to live in Van Nuys, we helped move him in. The last we heard he was going to go to Korea to teach English as a second language, we never know if he did or not we lost touch. Just two weeks ago we got a call from him ex-wife that he was living in a hotel on skid row in LA and the management checked in on him and found him in such distress the paramedics were called he was taken to USC and passed away the next day.
Randy taught me never to be in denial about someone else's addiction. I always tried to help him to live a sober life and I spoke up to his family about his problem. But people either denied his problem or enabled his problem. Randy's passing is not the best end to any addiction story but it is the end to so many like him.

In the middle of all of this sits Dustin. Last week his mom called him just to touch base, he wanted only money, the rest of his SSI, $50.00, he came by and got it when we were not at home. Last night Letty called his place of residence and they said they had not seen him for a week. We checked the hospital, and finally on line to discover he had been arrested three times in the space of two weeks. He is in jail now. Without knowing the circumstances of why he was arrested let's just say that now we know he is "safe", but what he's looking at for a consequence we do not know.

So what is it with addiction as a disease? Is it physical? Is it emotional? Is it spiritual? A combination of these? In Randy's case it was all three, he came in this world from alcoholics, had a propensity for wanting to drink and developed a physical and emotional need for drink. He let drink become his everything forsaking his loved ones, this is the spritual part I refer too. When the addiction becomes your comfort and higher power.


Maybe you think differently, please post your comments and share your thoughts.

wayne