Originally Posted by
Kanati
IMHO, this is getting to one of the main roots of the problem. Full disclosure, I am a recovering alcoholic. Been sober for a number of years, and do what I need to in a days time to stay that way. Locally, AA is much much stronger than NA, so we get a lot of folks with opiate addictions; I'd say probably 80% or more of the AA newcomers over the last few years have walked in with more than a bottle problem. I've seen people who make Kieth Richards look daisy fresh recover, and I've seen preppy college kids die a couple days after shaking their hands and them saying that they want to stop but can't.
One of the greatest casualties of the "great society" era is resilience. You point out what I think are a couple of symptoms of this; negative attitude towards social decency, F the police, and overall acceptance and tolerance of any and everything. We've become an over regulated, let someone else do for me what I'm capable of doing myself, here's your trophy for "participation" / aren't you just a special snowflake, there's a pill for that society. The police what to hold ME accountable for MY actions? Oh nonononono, cant have that, clearly they're jackbooted thugs who want only to persecute me..... Here's the thing, recovery is an inside job; nobody can get anyone else clean or sober. Getting sober sucks, it hurts, it takes a lot of work and effort; it's not something that can be handed out. That's a stark kick in the nuts for someone who's basically had their every need met simply by waking up in the morning. We're just not a pull ourselves up by our bootstraps society anymore, and that's exactly what's needed to recover.