"What Most People Don't Understand" by Stan Worthley

Most of us did not want to end up this way. We did not plan on becoming addicts; we were just looking for a way to ease the pain. When you see us you just see the addict. I’m sure you get some sense of the pain and suffering we are in the midst of, but you can only see the now, what we have become — not the pain that got us here.

You may have been the lucky one who did not wonder if when you got home you were going to get beaten for something as simple as a dish left in the sink, or face a parent telling you how worthless you are. Maybe your never experienced the power being shut off because your parents spent all the money for bills on drugs.

Maybe you have never been the victim of sexual, emotional, or physical violence without knowing how to handle these situations properly. But too many of us have been. When you see us, you don’t see the numbers: two-thirds of people in treatment are survivors of child abuse in one form or another.

What most people don’t understand is no one wakes up in the morning and says “Today is a good day to become an addict.” We simply wanted to stop the pain and the memories, and did not know how.