Vale

Excellent writing...Auburn Journal....7/20/2014...Jason Smith(writer)
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Uncle Mark was 39, and he knew he had a problem. He had used heroin since he was 15, so that was undeniable.
But admitting he had a problem was something he refused to do.

Knowing something comes from one’s head. Admitting it comes from one’s heart. And he’d lost touch with his heart well before he lay dying in my arms.

Heroin eats away at your soul, at that intrinsic little voice that tells us right from wrong, good from bad, love from hate. It numbs everything in its path; the soul is just an innocent bystander.

It takes everything you love, everything you care about, all of your dreams, your aspirations, your friends, your family, everything — and pushes it to the side in favor of finding ways and means to get more heroin.

And until an addict finally succumbs to reality and admits he or she has a problem, there can be no solution. Sure, it can be forced. But more often than not, for addicts’ families, it’s nothing but a lesson in redundancy and heartbreak. It’s feeling stupid for actually believing they’d get it this time around. It’s wondering what they did wrong and how they could’ve stopped such a beautiful person from taking such an ugly path through life.

For the addict in denial, it’s promises — lots and lots of empty promises. Nothing kills the soul more than failing, once again, like they said you would. Nothing annihilates your self-esteem more than using against your own will, possessed by an obsession to outrun a detox in $20 increments.

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God Bless Uncle Mark.
God Bless ALL of our Uncle Marks.

Raider

How horribly sad.

Ann

Prayers out for Uncle Mark and all who, like him, face the reality and finality of addiction when it is too late. And for all who love all the Uncle Mark's in this world.

So many precious lives lost, to addiction and death, if any other disease did what addiction does the world would declare a crisis.

Until then, let us all pray.

Thanks Vale, this really touched my heart.

Hugs

chicory

Thank you Vale.

May we always have room in our hearts for compassion for the addicts, who suffer right along with their loved ones.

Yes, Ann, I agree that addiction does not get the public attention that it needs. so sad.

hopeful4

Awful, just awful.

zoso77

This is a stark reminder of how addiction will evenutally end. Horribly sad.

Twofish

Dear Vale,
So true so painfully true. Thank you for sharing Uncle Marc with us, it touched my heart and gave me/us a wake up call that addiction is NOT going away any time soon...after the beast eats your soul away, is there any joy left at all?
Pray for our loved ones, our affected loved ones souls.
TF

Vale

>>>>after the beast eats your soul away, is there any joy left at all?<<<<<

Yes, but you have to pry open the maw of the beast.....and TAKE it.