ADDICTIONS AND ADDICTS IN PERSPECTIVE When you hear words like "addiction" and "addict", or happen to have access to media covering topics surrounding these words, what sort of thoughts, ideas, or images do they conjure up for you? When you think about addiction and the kind of role it plays in society today, or how prevalent an issue it has become, what kind of perspective do you have? What sort of person do you associate with being an addict? What kind of person do you suppose society, with a group paradigm, would call an addict, and how do you suppose they would approach such a person? To answer these questions, and to gain a perspective on addiction and addicts, let us first attempt to define these two words as they stand by themselves: addict : -n- a slave to a habit or vice, especially, but not limited to to drugs addiction: a state of being in which one is as a slave to said habit or vice Surprisingly, there are still today many stereotypes that exist i...
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"DISCO BISCUIT" MDMA -an account from an "e-tard" by R.Marcus Gaudry July, 2009 *AUTHOURS NOTE: The following is ultimately a fictional expression reflecting the amphetamine derivative MDMA, the party drug most popularly known as ecstasy, but also known by many other aliases, such as "E", "X", "XTC", and one of my personal favourites, "disco biscuits", hence the title of this effort. Although often referred to as a "designer drug", the truth is that MDMA was originally synthesized over 90 years ago by a legitimate pharmaceutical company. A common popular account would suggest it was intended originally as a possible appetite suppressant. Though it was synthesized in Germany by the Merck Company in 1912 and patented in 1914, Merck records indicate it was initially regarded as little more than an unimportant by-product from an attempt to synthesize another drug to work around a competitors' patent. In order to disc...
First things first. I should mention that my original idea for taking the course I am currently in was to help the homeless. While that is still a part of my hope, my actual goals are at present subject to change, or more accurately, growth and/or evolution. I'm now thinking about completing this course, obtaining part work while continuing in education in a more seminary fashion.
THE LAMB By R.Marcus Gaudry written and published October 2005 Broken, bleeding, in the desert, he is just a little child. Used, abused, betrayed and beaten, left on sunbleached sands to die. Where is justice for this child? Who will turn this wrong thing right? Who will come and save this child? Who will comfort him tonight? There's a hill on the horizon; will he find some refuge there? Angry, desperate, feral, frightened, nearly blind from the desert glare. Climbing now, hoping for refuge- on the top he finds the Lamb. Could it be that this is his refuge? He is starting now to understand. Mother Mary had a Lamb, fleece as white as snow, and everywhere the Lamb shall lead, We are called to follow. He reaches out to the Lamb, the Lamb then takes all his wounds. Everything he read in Gospel, every Word of it is true. Over the hill, beyond the desert, the Lamb leads to an Oasis. "Don't you believe it, you will get hurt" -but these words of doubt are now wasted. Anger tu...
Just a really quick comment: The more I talk about smoking, the more discussion I have to deal with as far as the health risks of smoking are concerned, both for myself and for others via 2nd hand smoke, and the benefits of quitting, all that kind of stuff, the more I want to go and have a smoke. It would be a lot easier to quit if I didn't have to hear about it 200 times a day. The patches don't help. I still end up wanting to go through the whole process of smoking. The gum actually triggers a craving. Those tube thingies don't help, either, they just make me want to light up as opposed to having a straw in my mouth. I bring this up because one of our assignments is all about quitting the cancer stick. This forces me to talk about it, which brings smoking to mind. If I don't think about it (smoking) then whatever cravings I have are much easier to ignore. Just my thought for the day. Thank you.
As I said earlier, I have a way of collecting quotes and maxims and such. Here are some of my favorites: 1) "You are not your job, nor how much money you have in the bank" 2) "You are more than the sum of what you consume" 3) "Desire is not an occupation" 4) "Worker bee is free even drones can fly away queen bee is the slave" 5) "Happiness is not about getting what you want, but about wanting what you have got" 6) "Hard work is good, provided you do not forget to have fun." 7) "It is quite an experience to live in fear, and that is what is to be a slave." 8) "Nothing is worse than having an itch you can never scratch." 9) "Money may make the world go around, but love makes it worth the trip." 10) "Therefore these three things remain; faith, hope and love, the greatest of these is love." 11) "Childhood ends the day you know you are going to die." 12) "A man who ma...
Here is a quote for reflection: "Until we know that we bear the unbearable, we are always running scared." I should let you all know that I am a bit of a junkie for maxims, quotes, and "proverbs" like this, so I have collected a few. The one above actually almost immediately brought to mind another one: "Courage is not the absence of fear, but the faith and perseverance to overcome fear." Life, I'm confident we all know very well, is very full of trials, tribulations, obstacles and hardships. When we encounter them, we then have a choice; we can face them, identify them, accept them, and learn to deal with them in a constructive manner, and from there turn what we might want to call a 'bad' experience into a 'learning' experience, or we can put a whole lot of energy into avoiding that which is uncomfortable for us, effectively running away those trials and tribulations. Here's the thing, if we choose to run, chances are very high th...