the voice of reason

By: C.T. Stockton

Did you ever notice that we as human beings are great at giving advice and possibly asking for it as well. But as for the taking of said solicited or unsolicited advice, well, we are just plain failures in that department.

For instance, I have a friend that we will call “Bob”. And Bobs’ wife treats him like crap. All of Bobs’ friend and family continually advise Bob to leave that low life wife of his. Because we know he deserves better. But does he ever heed this advice? No. Why? Cause Bobs an idiot.

We all are at some point in our lives aren’t we? I know I have been and am an idiot on to many occasions to count. Sure we all have things in our life that we have regrets about, and wish now that we had taken Aunt Bettys’ advice on. But dwelling on it doesn’t make things any better.

Get over it. Move on with your life. Look forward, not behind you. Some people get so caught up in the past that they have no present life or future to speak of.  Now that brings me back to “Bob” who is caught in this “ring of fire”, to quote Johnny Cash.

Bob and his wife have been married for over 20 years. But Bob still can’t let go of the fact that his wife cheated on him. It was 15 years ago with one of his friends, and he likes to talk about it whenever he has the chance.

Bob chooses to stay in this relationship, why, I will never know. He is now a shell of a human being, lifeless, insecure and totally dependant. Oh and on top of that he seems to think that drinking is going to make everything go away. So he and his wife drink and fight and that is their life. It’s sad really.

He knows he needs help, he knows that this relationship is what is killing him. But still refuses to do anything about it. Drinking is never the answer. He is such a wonderful person, inside and out, but can’t see it. And to be honest, it’s hard for anyone else to see at this point. All anyone who knows Bob sees a depressed, lying, manipulative drunk, with an excuse for everything.

The funny thing is Bob is now so insecure and self conscience that he is paranoid and thinks everyone is talking about him. And he is right. We are. Why? Because we all see the downward spiral and have all tried to help and have failed. Now we are all just watching his ship go down in a bottle of liquor. He drinks day and night and thinks no one knows, but we all see it and are powerless to stop it.

Give me a break, at some point in life you have to put your big boy shoes on and be the man or woman for that matter. Stand up for yourself, be happy in life. It’s short. We don’t have much time on this earth. We should be making the best out of the time we do have.

People, wake up, stop wasting your lives being unhappy, do something that makes you happy. If those around you don’t like it, well than they probably aren’t the people you want to surround yourself with anyways. True friends want you to be happy, its jealousy and envy that makes friends nasty when they see you happy. Is that a true friend? Not in my book.

Go to rehab, separate yourself from the negative influences in your life. Look forward, not back. Life is wonderful. This planet we live on for such a short time is a beautiful one. Look around appreciate what you have. Don’t take anything for granted and always try to see the bright side of any situation, no matter how bad it may seem.


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