Northwoods Recovery: Overdose loss, community impact, a call for change

Today, here in the Northwoods, a drug addict overdosed and died. 

Although I have no way of verifying it, statistical probability will tell you this type of fatal occurrence is practically a foregone conclusion; if not today than certainly tomorrow.

But a tragic event of this type has a far greater impact than that simple statistic would suggest. 

His passing leaves behind a grieving family; his mother, who no doubt loved him in spite of his criminal lifestyle and fatally bad choices; perhaps children who will be forced into adult roles they are ill-prepared for. And their mother, who may very well be an addict herself and will now have to face up to the real world consequences of her own deeply flawed choices, which without radical changes do not preclude the stark possibility of overdose death and an unimaginable degree of hardship for her grief-stricken kids, who’ll now suffer severely for the sins of their parents. 

And then there’s the community’s loss to consider; he was a neighbor, possibly a friend or co-worker, someone who’s sudden passing will leave a gaping hole in the fabric of our Northwoods neighborhood impossible to ever completely fill. Addictive behavior notwithstanding, whatever potential for positive contributions that he might have made is gone forever. 

This is understood by way of personal experience, from my commitment to the psych ward following my own deliberate and near-fatal overdose. Given time to consider the consequences of my actions, the overwhelming shame I felt forced me — for the first time — to own up to what I’d done to the people who cared about me and whose minimal expectations I’d so completely failed to meet. I had to call my adult son from the psych ward and listen to him crying as he asked why I cared so little for him to so completely ignore my obligations to him; and in turn hear me crying as I begged forgiveness for the unforgivable. 

And then repeat that with each of my friends. 

Those of us fortunate to have survived addiction can and should express our gratitude by utilizing our changed lives to take actions serving to atone for the harm we did, and fulfill our obligation to send to addicts whose lives hang in the balance this message: 

Before it’s too late, please end your life-risking behavior, and instead begin sharing in this that we’ve learned:

We Do Recover.