02-05-2014, 01:26 PM | #11 | |
Nomadic Tribesman
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Brampton, Canada
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And while I believe that being an addict isn't necessarily a choice, giving into that addiction is one. In the last 30 years I've had maybe 3 beers and no hard liquor. I realized where I was going, when I was 20, and put a stop to it when I saw too much of my father in myself. Every few years I would test myself and say, "Nope, I haven't changed." So I don't curse the addicts for being addicts. I curse them for not having the balls to walk away.
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02-05-2014, 01:50 PM | #12 |
Hold mah beer!
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: 80 Miles South of Moto Heaven
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02-05-2014, 02:48 PM | #13 | |
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: NC
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Man hats off to you! I've seen many people in the last few days trying to equate addiction to a disease, and one even INSISTING it IS a disease and declaring that everyone should "raise awareness" of that "disease". While I totally agree that awareness is the key, having lost my father to alcoholism I have to totally DISagree on it being a "disease". I don't think anyone with cancer was given a choice to "try it" and then became addicted to it's clutches. I don't recall a single instance where someone encouraged another person to "just try" heart disease. Addiction has a very distinct beginning, which starts with a CHOICE. You CHOOSE to smoke your first joint. You CHOOSE to your first line, try your first beer. And just like YOU said, giving IN to that addiction is a CHOICE. No one CHOOSES to try cancer. And true diseases like cancer are not something that's COMPLETELY preventable (whereas addiction can be prevented by exactly what you said: never starting) Where we fail those who have fallen into addiction is by attempting to divert the accountability elsewhere. And ironically, that's what's wrong with society as a whole; dodging accountability for your own actions. When we see addiction tear someone we love more than anything in life apart, it's EASY to attempt to assign blame elsewhere because we want to believe that person couldn't do this themselves...but in the end they DID. Addiction is an effect of a cause. Some causes are deep seeded emotional problem, some are bad wiring, and some come from great physical and emotional abuse. Others are just plain WEAKNESS (p0rn, iPhone, FB, that Mt Dew at 2:30) But there IS a cause, and addiction is the effect. We're not going to make addiction go away by relocating the blame. We can make it go away by being aware of what the CAUSES are and trying to fix them. Or at least making everyone aware the potential dangers OF addiction to whatever it is that they "haven't found yet"
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“Being tolerant does not mean that I share another one’s belief. But it does mean that I acknowledge another one’s right to believe, and obey, his own conscience.” Viktor Frankl |
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02-05-2014, 03:14 PM | #14 |
Nomadic Tribesman
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Brampton, Canada
Moto: '09 ER-6n
Posts: 11,150
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There was a time when things like addiction were considered a weakness of character. Now we've gone all the way over to it being a 'disease.' It's not really either thing. You can have a psychological, physiological, or even perhaps genetic obsessive predilection for something. Being exposed to that thing will reveal that preference, but doesn't create it.
From that point on it becomes a choice as to whether you indulge in that thing, or walk away from it. Failing to recognize that this particular thing is something that you can't partake of in moderation is a failure to realize simple fact. Self delusion, if you will, because you want a reason to continue to do it. "I can't stop!" Bullshit. It's uncomfortable to stop, not impossible. I quit, cold turkey, because I can't drink in moderation. I'm either sober as a judge, or stone drunk far more often than I should be. I see too many people who don't think that they're alcoholics because they only get pissed to the gills once or twice a week. Hint: If there's a pattern to you getting drunk, then you're an alcoholic. If you go home after work and "have a few beers to unwind and get a light buzz", then you're an alcoholic. Stop kidding yourself. The same applies to weed, coke, or whacking off; you're an addict.
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02-05-2014, 08:47 PM | #15 |
Movie Star
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Location: Kingsport, TN.
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02-05-2014, 09:14 PM | #16 |
Nomadic Tribesman
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Brampton, Canada
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Weed, coke AND whacking off?
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"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge, "Dorkness Rising" http://www.morallyambiguous.net/ |
02-05-2014, 09:31 PM | #17 |
Movie Star
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Kingsport, TN.
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02-05-2014, 11:50 PM | #18 | |
Viff6N Mutated Warrior
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Texas
Moto: '01 Honda VFR 800 & '09 ER-6N
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It's only an addiction if you admit it. |
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02-06-2014, 10:27 AM | #19 | |
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Location: NC
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Hey, it add's 10 yrs to the average males life. I'll likely live to be 137
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“Being tolerant does not mean that I share another one’s belief. But it does mean that I acknowledge another one’s right to believe, and obey, his own conscience.” Viktor Frankl |
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02-07-2014, 12:32 PM | #20 |
Nomadic Tribesman
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Brampton, Canada
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Don't forget the lotion.
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