Apology Accepted

Gene Simmons talks.

And talks.

AND TALKS MORE.

Controversy usually flares up when he talks, whether it was about rap music or Prince's death. Regarding his comments about Prince's recent death, he has offered an apology. I read it. His words relate to my life, specifically:

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In my experience [drug users have] made my life, and the lives of their loved ones, difficult. I was raised in a culture/crowd where drug addicts were written off as losers, and since that's the narrative I grew up with, it's been hard to change with the times.

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I was brought up that way as well. I drank booze for a number of years (see below) and since I stopped on 12/31/2010, I've often pondered the idea that by now choosing to not drink booze, I am returning to the way I was brought up. A return to my roots, if you will. You see, when I was young, Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign was popular and catchy. In numerous ways, I firmly believe it instilled the predisposition I have to disliking drugs. I calculated that I probably had my first drink of booze on Thursday, November 10, 1988.

That's when I was a freshman at Mount Mercy College. I wish I could have sent "Future Paul" to that version of my self on my very first day of college with a simple message: begin keeping a journal. I regret I didn't. Instead of a consolidated journal in a single notebook, I wrote about what was happening in my life in a variety of notebooks and random pieces of paper until May 1989. Because I didn't think it was (apparently) a big deal, I don't think I've ever seen where I recorded the date of my first drink of booze. Thus, 11/10/1988 is a guess. This means I drank booze for 22 years, 1 month and 3 weeks of my life. Some of the awful decisions I made after May 1989 are documented in my journals.

Here's another tangent. The effects of drugs on the user as well as the user's family is a recurring sub-plot in "Fear the Walking Dead" series I watch on AMC. One of the main characters is a heroin addict (though in the current second season, he has not done heroin). Because of his past, the way in which other characters interact with him is interesting. This character was a different person when he used frequently. Now that he hasn't used heroin for a bit, his sister and mother still distrust him. They both recall vivid incidents of what it was like when he was in the depths of his drug abuse. I see it in his mother's eyes when she talks to him. She longed for him to not choose heroin and then was repeatedly crushed when he did. It's as if she hears what he tells her but she won't allow herself to believe him because of his past.

What an interesting thought. I will ponder it further in my private journal in light of recent events in my life.

And to bring this post back to the original intent of writing it, Gene Simmons' apology is available in this article.