I have to say this in the wake of Amy Winehouses death and the fact that people are leaving bottles of vodka and cigarettes at her shrine.
I wish that the public perception of addiction was correct. That people understood it is not lack of will power, but a disease as powerful and dibilitating as any other potentially terminal disease. It is a disease not just of the physical body but also of the emotional and the spiritual.
HOWEVER - i feel i have to accept that the world at large will never truly understand this - and why would they need to? Those of us in recovery from addiction understand because our lives depend on it. It is like trying to explain to someone who has never had cancer what having cancer is like, or diabetes, or a heart condition. unless you have it, it is impossible to understand. And i have to accept that we as a society in general (not all), will always slow down to look at a terrible and fatal car crash. Rock and Roll - and i am qualified to talk about this - is about music, LIVING, expression of the spirit, sharing, allowing yourself to be free. It is NOT about killing oneself with addiction, dying young, club 27 give me a fucking break. leaving alcohol at a young girls shrine, is like leaving a jar with mini tumours at the grave of someone who died from cancer. It is a sad day. IM afraid i will have to hand this one over to God and thank him that i found recovery from a fatal disease that only perhaps 5% of addicts ever are blessed enough to find.
