This figures highly in my life.....

by Otony, Wednesday, November 02, 2016, 19:04 (2881 days ago) @ ~JM~
edited by Otony, Monday, November 07, 2016, 08:42

......although it is in a somewhat different fashion. Two of my absolute closest friends in high school, and for many years afterwards, effectively destroyed their lives because of alcohol abuse for the one, and drug/alcohol abuse with the other.

I saw it coming with one of them, and pleaded with him to get help to no avail. The other was such a destructive drinker, I avoided him the last years of his life, which I deeply regret.

Whenever either of them crosses my mind I still feel a deep loss, because I knew who they once were. But try as I might I didn't have the tools or education to help change them in any way.

I sometimes feel as though I failed them, but the sad reality is that they failed themselves. We can love them, pray for them, struggle with them, but in the end, they are the ones who have to make a change.

So remember him for who he was, mourn him for your loss, but never fall into the trap of feeling at fault, no matter how tempting. Time to fire a few shots in his memory, and if you imbibe, down a few shots for your pain.

No one gets out of here alive, it's how we end our days that shows our true character.

Otony