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Messages 1 - 17 of total 17 in this topic |
D Murph
climber
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Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 14, 2017 - 06:34pm PT
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Nothing beats a phone call from a family member who's literally in the midst of making a terrible decision, especially when you know nothing you say can matter.
I don't know what to think about alcohol and drugs. For many years - let it roll! Twenty years later -- RHU/A5. Some things more than others of course.
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Nov 14, 2017 - 07:33pm PT
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Alcohol is the worst.
Even though I consume it.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Nov 14, 2017 - 07:49pm PT
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I started a thread on this subject a while back, and it soon sank into ST oblivion. Perhaps this is a good place to repost...
_ _ _ _ _ _
We are watching a friend destroy himself.
A brother. One of us.
In the recent discussion of our collective grief and whether climbing was worth the potential pain, I posted that yes, it was worth it, because for some of us, climbing was more a way to survive, than a way to die. That the alternative, the life without what climbing (or whitewater, or whatever) gave us, was far worse. What I said was
Some of us simply didn't fit in to the space we were allotted in the Betty Crocker world we were born into. Those of us who found a home in the climbing community were the lucky ones. Yes, some of us died in avalanches, rockfalls, rappelling accidents, whatever... But most of us survived, and when we look at our brothers and sisters who didn't find what we did, the ones who turned to alcohol, drugs, and crime... Well, the answer seems clear to me.
But for some, even the climbing is not enough, and our friend Tom is one.
We are in tears, and all I can think of right now is the Steppenwolf song
"Snow Blind Friend"
You say it was this morning when you last saw your good friend
Lyin' on the pavement with a misery on his brain
Stoned on some new potion he found upon the wall
Of some unholy bathroom in some ungodly hall
He only had a dollar to live on 'til next Monday
But he spent it on some comfort for his mind
Did you say you think he's blind?
Someone should call his parents, a sister or a brother
And they'll come to take him back home on a bus
But he'll always be a problem to his poor and puzzled mother
And he'll always be another one of us
He said he wanted Heaven but prayin' was too slow
So he bought a one way ticket on an airline made of snow
Did you say you saw your good friend flyin' low?
Flyin' low
Dyin' slow.
Yes, he's our brother, and your brother, and yes, he'll always be another one of us.
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Dropline
Mountain climber
Somewhere Up There
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Nov 14, 2017 - 11:00pm PT
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Yeah, alcohol is sh#t and it’s f*#ked me up good.
But you see, I don’t have an alcohol problem that eye have to admit. Twas my father who was an alcoholic. Eye barely drink at all.
Yeah, alcohol is sh#t and it’s fucjedcme up for my entire life.
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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Nov 15, 2017 - 05:32am PT
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The latest frenzied media garbage about the latest scary boogeyman, the OPIATES, drives me nuts.
Booze kills more people every day than the opiates could ever hope to.
Imagine if we could put even half the money we spend on the latest scare tactics and Wars on XXXX to actually trying to help treat addiction and it's many actual individual causes.
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Bushman
climber
The state of quantum flux
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Nov 15, 2017 - 05:47am PT
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My son and daughter in-law have both destroyed their lives with alcoholism and opiate addiction and are permanently disabled at age 40 and 38 consecutively. My son suffered strokes and a heart attack, and daughter in-law had intestinal infection and was in a coma as a result of their maladies.
It has altered our entire family dynamic. Drug and alcohol addiction is a mental illness that can be multi faceted. There's no one right answer and sometimes none at all.
bushman
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
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Nov 15, 2017 - 07:36am PT
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Slippery slope to stand on.
America is awash in guns and alcohol. It is our destiny to deal with it.
Each individual must take it on and get it under control.
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knucko
climber
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Nov 15, 2017 - 07:50am PT
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It was a junk-house in South Carolina
Held a boy the age of ten
Along with his brother Billy
And a mother and her boyfriend
Who was a triple loser with some blue tattoos
That were given to him when he was young
And a drunk temper that was easy to lose
And thank god he didn't own a gun
Carolina Drama - The Raconteurs
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jeff constine
Trad climber
Ao Namao
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Nov 15, 2017 - 08:29am PT
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Alcohol SUCKS Period! Unless you are getting a shot from the Dr, for injection site cleaning.
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mynameismud
climber
backseat
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Nov 15, 2017 - 08:57am PT
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A couple of family members drank themselves to death, a couple more on the way. Quit drinking June 5th. Outside looking in.
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Off White
climber
Tenino, WA
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Nov 15, 2017 - 09:15am PT
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Quitting drinking is not necessarily a panacea either. Sometimes the physical damage done can't be reversed, the emotional carnage can't be overcome, and the behavior is not changed. I feel Ghost's situation deeply and personally, I bet any number of us here do too.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 15, 2017 - 09:20am PT
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OW, the damage has to be extreme for cessation not to have considerable benefits.
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red'sea
Trad climber
lexington
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Nov 15, 2017 - 09:22am PT
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aye.
i fall nearly everyday for the glow it promises.
though at each day's end, i limp away
behind eyes awash in grey.
and those hopeful eyes around me, the ones
whom depend upon me, can no longer look my way.
because their hope has eroded.
and they are ashamed.
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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Nov 15, 2017 - 10:40am PT
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brother, sister, son, daughter, father or mother, but always another one of us
this is not a reason to be ashamed but a reason to do what you can
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Nuglet
Trad climber
Orange Murica!
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Nov 15, 2017 - 10:47am PT
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Rastamon no drink firewater
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MikeL
Social climber
Southern Arizona
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Nov 16, 2017 - 06:16pm PT
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I’m sure this will give me trouble.
Somehow we desire our problems. We are in love with them just as much as we want to be rid of them. Our problems are often emblems, and they can sustain us. We, the psyche, very often needs them.
Each affliction releases psyche—consciousness—in some form or another. That is, every pathology provides a way of seeing that provides insight. For example, depression is something that a person owns, something that a person has; but it’s not what a person IS. Depression is not a person’s identity.
If alcohol is a problem for a person, it’s psychologically useful to ask what the soul wants from alcohol without making or defining it as “a problem.” Or, . . . what does alcohol want from consciousness?
I just want to suggest that nothing anywhere needs to be wrong. We don’t need to be catholic.
(What the hell, . . . all desires are shameful.)
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Nov 16, 2017 - 06:18pm PT
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^^^^^
How many friends or family have you lost to alcohol?
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