paying lipservice to recovery

recovery is serious business for many of us. those of us that have had our lives implode because of our addictions. we have not only suffered, but caused the suffering of those we love most... for us, recovery was the small window through which we barely escaped with our lives... and never intact. shattered, broken, financially and morally bankrupt... often alone, those we loved cast or shoved aside (or they fled in self-preservation).

for us, recovery is not a game. recovery is an escape route, and not an ocean liner with free cocktails and room service, but a small, leaky dingy with only one oar... and we know that if we are not vigilant, a wave of alcohol and/or drugs can capsize it... and the next time that happens may just be the time we drown.

but for some people, recovery is something different. it's a game... a cool, hip party where the alcohol and drugs are replaced (temporarily, mind you) with swapping numbers with other young celebrities and paparazzi waiting outside of your 12 step meeting. these people use recovery as just another way to create PR, get attention, have their faces broadcast on the E channel so that someone else's red carpet appearance doesn't make the public forget about them. these young wanna-bees are paying lipservice to recovery, and it's a sin, because they are telling millions of young people out there that really do have a problem that recovery isn't serious, it isn't real help... it's just a way to get people off your back or even worse; it's just a quick way to look cool and mature...

every time i hear that one of these young celebrities (and i'm sorry, but what makes them celebrities? in the old days you had to have talent and actually do something to entertain people to be called a celebrity) is going back to rehab or returning to their AA meetings and "oh, aren't they so brave" and "it's so mature that she recognizes that she has a problem" i find myself retching.

why the constant back and forth? someone underage was caught by photographers throwing up outside a drinking establishment, so they run back back to rehab... someone else has a fender-bender after a night at the disco, and their back in AA... how cool recovery looks when the young, wealthy celebs of SoCal do it... they don't care that all the sobriety chips they carry with them say "30 days"...

lipservice... they're all posers... and it's sad, because of all the young people that idolize these celebridiots think that that's how recovery works... that it's a game, a "get out of jail" card in the game of addiction... a place to go so people think your mature and responsible, but will still allow you to go clubbing again next weekend... what a disservice these spoiled, pampered snots are doing to those kids (and adults) that really need help... who is going to take the program seriously if this is how it is portrayed?

i sometimes lament that AA and NA are non-exclusive. why, because then we could tell these brats that use the program as a personal PR launching pad that they don't belong here... not yet. they need to wait until they actually hit bottom... ask danny bonaduce, tom sizemore, steven baldwin... they know what recovery is about... they hit a real bottom and (gasp!) they aren't A-listers anymore... it doesn't seem so cool now, does it?

alrgiht, i'm done. i just felt it needed to be said...