My loving but sad father died prematurely from early-onset dementia. To be more accurate, my Dad was an untreated, depressed alcoholic who gave up. His spiritual malady became organic and gradually his brain turned on itself and began degenerating. Once that process starts, the result is terminal. But in his death, my father teaches us drug addicts and alcoholics two invaluable lessons.

     One is human responsibility. We must never forget that nobody and nothing outside of ourselves is responsible for who we are. We bear full responsibility for taking care of ourselves, for our success and for our failure. We mold ourselves into men and women or moral character and strength or into Godless dens of iniquity and wilting leaves of cowardice. The choice is most certainly ours to make.

     The other lesson from my father is that we must never give up. Never. The people who get better are people who absolutely refuse to give up. Their resolve to change and grow is as firm as it gets. Why is it so important to never give up? Because resolve and courage are what facilitate miracles. Those of us who don’t give up are those who God touches. God comes into those who truly desire to change and who will do ANYTHING to get better. God restores to sanity those of us who refuse to roll over. He then fills us with the strength and power to do His will.

     Don’t let the brainwashed, mainstream puppets out there tell you that the Step process only works for some, or that God is simply a belief system that only fixes some, or that you will always be fighting to stay sober, or that relapse is part of recovery, or that harm reduction is a solution. These are notions of the minions and shills of the pharmaceutical elite. They even teach this stuff now to students of psychology, mental health, and social work. These programs have seemingly been co-opted, if you will, by the APA, which has itself been co-opted by the pharmaceutical brass and their marketers and advertisers. Don’t waste your money like I did. I’ve helped many more people as a recovered junkbox than I have with my ridiculous college degree. So watch out for the flimsy ideas of the Establishment. Dangerous stuff, to be sure.

     We must never forget that it is GOD who fills us with serenity and peace within… not ourselves.

God, please give me the power and willingness to never give up…