Weakness

I watched an interview of Rex Chapman this AM on MSNBC. He is a former phenome in college basketball back in the day. His NBA career was cut short because of his addiction to drugs. I have not read the memoir.

I took two things from the interview.

Mr. Chapman mentioned that while writing the memoir, one memory led to other memories he had forgotten. I can relate. When I became actively interested to writing down my past some 20 years ago, I would dredge up memories long buried by writing down the ones that had sat front and center through all the years. Some of them were wonderful, others made me sad, and the worst of them, well, one of the worst I still have trouble facing.

Rex mentioned how one memory led to others to set up his tale of being so desperately addicted to opiates, that he stole from an Apple store.

Effectively, what he said was:

"I can't believe I stole from an Apple store. If not for the drugs, I would like to think I would not have."

Sadly, he will never know because he has decided it was drugs that ruined his life. It was not drugs, it was that he was basically weak and even now, years later, he won't own up to it.

I had my own struggle with drugs. Serious struggles with drugs. Maybe the reason I finally found my way out was because I never blamed the drugs. I put them in my mouth or in my arm willingly. I did it because I was weak. Nobody's fault but my own.

We all grow up with baggage. Some of us are saddled with more than others. But we all have baggage, much of it invented internally to help with perceived and/or real injustices to our being.

My advice to folks struggling to overcome addictions is:

Deal with addiction first and then with the weakness or flaw that created the addiction in the first place. Blaming some one or something else for the bad turn a life has taken is counter productive in my opinion. If the problems are real, address them, not just the substance abuse that was the result.

Honestly, I had intended an upbeat post today. Then I watched the interview and it pissed me off. But I feel better now. Is not that one of the many reasons I started a Blog, to feel better about myself? Actually, the original reason is still the most important. A blog was a perfect vehicle for a sloppy below average writer to pick up his game. Where it ended up taking me, well, was here after over 1700 posts in the last 20 years.

Keep it 'tween the ditches ........................................

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What's the prompt word for a tune that fits in with this post; Drug addiction? Weakness? Or something totally unrelated just because it's a tune I like. One thing is for sure, it will have to be a Blues tune.

I found one song I had not heard by Keith Richards. It's his acoustic version of "Cocaine Blues".

Enjoy.