Alcohol And Drug Addiction Recovery Month

This past Tuesday night Mayor Konkus proclaimed September "Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month" in Point Pleasant. This is the one issue that runs deeper in my heart than all others so I feel compelled to add my voice in the name of the power of Recovery and the miracle of Sobriety.
Alcoholism, like every addiction, is a devastating evil that is impossible to explain to someone whose life hasn´t been leveled, shredded, and broken by it. Unfortunately I´m afraid those of us who have are growing in number, and in the wake of the prescription pill epidemic, public acknowledgement of this crippling disease has diminished and the days of enthusiasm for Recovery have been replaced by get fixed quick rehabs and self help sobriety. I will tell you that at least in my experience there is no self made sobriety. My Recovery is the result of the friends I have made, the family that stood by me, and the Higher Power that led me no matter how hard i resisted.
The statistics say that one in seven people are alcoholic or have a family member that is. There is still a stigma that I believe keeps that number lower than it really is, and there is a public failure to recognize its ultimate effects. Someone dies of liver disease and not a quart of vodka a day for 35 years. Someone dies of heart failure and not the two dozen percocet and twelve pack they needed to get through the day. How about the suicide that couldn´t bare another moment of the spiritual and emotional void consuming their whole being any longer? I applaud our town for making this small gesture and pray it helps at least on person, one family, to a path of Recovery.
My path was a long one and no one I love was spared from its consequences. It was those consequences however that were my first lessons in Sobriety, to face the realty of who I was and make a clear separation where I would start to become who I wanted to be. Today and everyday I have a second chance to grow in awareness and willingness and try to be that man.
When I was asked to run for Council great consideration had to be given to my family and to the people with whom I would be associated as to the potential embarrassment my past could cause, at least by those who still consider addiction to be a sign of weakness and cause for shame. I feel the course of my life, my mistakes as much as my successes, gives me something to offer others, maybe at the very least the perspective of someone who has seen so much from the bottom as well as the top. I am not proud of the damage I caused or the people I hurt, but neither am I ashamed of who I have become.
I share my story like so many people who have been given a second chance because I feel indebted to give back what was so freely given to me.

www.nnjaa.org