Saturday, March 20, 2010

Lenten thanks 31

Oh dear, I seem to permanently be one day behind in my thanks.

In Zac's and in prison I see some of the results of drug and alcohol addiction. Thankfully I don't drink and I've never used illegal drugs. I say thankfully because knowing how impossible I find it to resist Maltesers it might have been easy for me to go down the same road. I'm not making light of addiction.

As a young mum bringing up three children, there were times when I thought, 'I wish I drank because I could do with a drink now.' Lots of mothers will have felt that and most will have not become alcoholics, but for a proportion of the population it's not that easy.

That's why, I'm grateful for people like Furtheron. He's an alcoholic who hasn't had a drink for a number of years. (He's writes openly on his blog so I'm not divulging any confidences.) Now when he attends AA meetings he is able to support others who are struggling. He and other like him who know what it is to have been to the very edge are the best ones to stand alongside the desperate. They understand.

2 comments:

CalumCarr said...

Those who have experienced X know much more than those who have only read about, or studied, X.

I've been meaning to leave comments for quite a few days but my brain wouldn't work.

Furtheron said...

Liz... thank you I'm very humbled by your comment.

Why do I go to AA? Principally since my head will lie to me and tell me it wasn't so bad and sooner or later I'll be tempted to drink again - I go to remind me and stay sober.

Why do I try to help others... because it keeps me sober. It really is a bit selfish helping others. By trying to help them get through without a drink that helps me get through without a drink...

I've seen people lose partners of 40 years, have terminal illnesses, have very serious illnesses, lose young children and none of them pick up a drink on it... we all do it together.

@CalumCarr... your comment reminds me of a Max Glatt quote he was a leading alcohol specialist after the war in this country and big supporter to AA in Britain early on... I paraphrase but he was introduced as an expert on alocholism somewhere - he corrected that saying... "I'm an authority on it - you want experts go to the nearest AA meeting".