cont.


trust
DonInChelsea

July 9th 2006

copyright© don oddy

~ How we forget to help our fellow Man ~

One of the problems we have from nature is our prejudice of fellow human beings who are impaired in some way. We know people are not responsible for their disabilities, but others disabilities can make us prejudiced, and nature made us so. Our intellect and understanding help us overcome prejudice. And when we realise the prejudice we have is from our fear of those impairments we understand better how to help our fellows with problems. After all even when our fellows may have disabilities their quality of life can be fantastic. I know I have my own disabilities to contend with!

In my fellowship, the one which saved my life, I have learned to accept people for who and what they are. I thought I knew what this meant and thought I was a really open and caring person. I thought so but there was much I did not see, in my natural prejudice.

I had years of unhappiness from my Father, he was a big drinker, and from him I learned how to drink. This is not a complaint its an observation. My observation now, that I don’t drink at all, for it would surely upset my progress and hinder my well being these days. I don’t drink alcohol simply because I am an addict, and to drink again sets off a madness of mind its hard to break out of. Better to keep a clear head, on a daily basis and avoid insanity that waits for those like me.

If that were my only malady, I would have gratitude. For once we understand the nature of addiction, well being from a deadly disease is kept in recovery rather than discovery and decline.

I have a couple of other disabilities, which make life more precarious without proper maintenance, but in truth, when I keep my head well, the others are manageable if time consuming and my quality of life is becoming better than at any time in my life… Now that is progress.

What I find though in my well being is an odd return to prejudice and judgment if I am not vigilant. For as I improve and keep my spirit and emotions to the good, I forget the effort and time involved to do what nature gave me. It is a full time job to keep life working to keep wellbeing focussed and away from certain calamity if I am not vigilant. And that is my price for living.

In my fellowship I notice in many of my more long recovering friends an unfortunate trend back to prejudice. That they have discovered well being and they don’t recall their own insanity on the road to recovery.

In my fellowship with well being from addiction, all old prejudice of mind floats to the surface for more challenges and more uncertainty. For once one addiction is in recovery, the rest of life makes us wander back to our roots and beliefs. And often extreme prejudice to those who have been afflicted similarly.

In my fellowship many would ridicule the addict and shun them, simply because they have yet to move to recovery and judge them weak because they have yet to get a grip on how to keep in recovery. Often prejudice overwhelms compassion the addict was given in their early days.

It is a very natural thing to keep life sweet and who wants a load of impaired cluttering up our fellowship meetings made cosy with time and not so open to entry as we might think.

We need only examine our own conscience and behaviour to see how well and compassionate we are, how tolerant we are learning to be, how well we are in our recovery. And in relation to our attempts to keep well, our fellowship believes the door to our fellowship must be as wide open as we can stand. Yet how wide some can stand becomes apparent in their exclusion of some and welcoming of others.

Old prejudice is well in recovery I am sad to observe, and I can be misled into that prejudice when I am not careful, not forgiving of humanity and not my true self. The true self of others may stay the same with their in built and learned prejudice, I need not learn theirs, and for those who deny it, merely examine your outlook and how you judge impairment in others, exclude them as bothersome and inconvenient and worse shun them as below you. And remember you are the low bottom drunks of society. And when you do exclude and shun them, fuck you and shame on you, your insanity is alive an unwell.

If this observation feels disagreeable, then I am glad, if it does not fit you, then it matters not, if it makes you angry, then definitely fuck you. After all its not your business, is it? Fellowship where would we be without it…

~
Copyright © Don Oddy





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