I do get overwhelmed sometimes at the number of new posters who arrive each day telling the same horrible story that we all have lived through in some form or another. The enormity of the problem of alcoholism become pretty obvious after you spend enough time here.
Yup. Yup. Yup. And
F&F is a place where codies come to for advice on how to fix their loved one and soon discover a butt load of other people that need fixing.
Maybe we could just get into one of those emoticon circles and fix each other? You know, sort of like monkeys de-lousing each other?
Seriously, though... there are days when the enormity of the problem of addiction makes it impossible for me to even read. Because the taking my experiences and making them useful to somebody else at times seems like a game of whack-a-mole. Or fighting a hydra. Cut one head off, two new grows out in its place. So we have to remember that story about the starfish.
adapted from The Star Thrower
by Loren Eiseley
1907 – 1977
Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.
One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.
He came closer still and called out “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”
The young man paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean.”
“I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?” asked the somewhat startled wise man.
To this, the young man replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”
Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, “But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!”
At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, “I made a difference to that one.”
And I never want to forget that I was one of those starfish that someone cared enough about to throw back in the ocean.