Anyone dying young of any reason is a tragedy.
One thing I hope is that people take the time to truly understand how addiction works.
I don’t know everything, and I’ve gotten my Addiction Degree fromIntervention. But clearly, I know more than the assholes on Twitter and Facebook today.
Addiction isn’t cut and dry. It’s not easy to break from addiction. It’s not easy to just say, “I’m tired of doing crack/heroin/LSD/cocaine/drinking/smoking/having sex/insert your vice here.” Just because YOUR addiction can take a slow death (i.e. smoking cigarettes) versus someone doing hardcore drugs doesn’t make you better and it doesn’t justify his/her death.
Amy Winehouse may not have acted the way you would HOPE to if you had her addiction, but her death is still a tragedy. And after hearing that she was self-medicating because she had Bipolar disorder makes this even more sad and should lead you to educate yourself about mental illness and addiction.
Addiction alters your brain and how it works. It causes you to make ill-informed decisions against your better judgment. Anyone who is able to survive it and recover and say no day by day is a miracle. An absolute miracle. For someone to succumb to it is abysmal and horrible. Don’t trivialize it. At all.
Her not beating her addiction is not her fault. And to say that she was a mere crackhead who wasted her time on earth or who didn’t take advantage of the help offered her or how her death doesn’t matter because Beyonce is alive shows your ignorance your lack of humanity and your overall fucked-from-behind mentality.
People often want to know why I don’t drink or do certain things. Some may believe that it’s because of my religion and faith, but it’s not.
I don’t drink because I know who I am and where I’ve come from. I know that I have poor impulse control in a lot of ways, that I have addictive tendencies in a lot of ways. It’s a miracle that I haven’t succumbed to peer pressure and social pressure and taken a sip of alcohol. Because, honestly, with the shit I have to deal with every day and the shit I’ve dealt with in the past is enough to make anyone drink themselves until they die. I just choose, every day, to live with my shit soberly. And it’s not easy. It is never easy.
And I’m not better than Amy or anyone else who has fought addiction and won or lost simply because by the grace of God I haven’t taken a hit of anything. And as depressing as her death is, I’m glad that she’s free of her pain, her addiction, and the bullshit she had to live with.
Educate yourself on addiction and mental illness. Get yourself or your loved one help today. Remember empathy and compassion goes a long way.
And for God’s sake, conduct yourself as if you can actually be a decent human fucking being.
