Apparently actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died. He ROCKED “Capote,” but hell, I liked him as far back as “Boogie Nights.”
There seems to be some doubt about his death:
Yep, dead: Philip Seymour Hoffman found dead with needle in arm
Nope, alive: Philip Seymour Hoffman Death Hoax
… but his Wikipedia page lists him as deceased, so I’m going with that.
Considering it a “teachable moment,” I said something unflattering about Whitney Houston back when she died of an overdose: “Whitney, you idiot.”
Got raked over the coals by a shrieker: FUCK YOU!! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT PEOPLE GO THROUGH!! YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT PEOPLE’S PAIN!!
Well, yes I do. Everybody does. Nobody has a lock on pain. Everybody loses people, loses life opportunities, goes through agonizing shit at some point in their lives, or all their lives. I went through years of abuse, and I’ve lost people who meant more to me than I can ever express. Just like everybody else.
No, dear shrieker, my pain isn’t the same as yours, but don’t ever imagine it’s less intense, less hurtful to me. Don’t you dare say that.
Besides which, I wasn’t – and am not now – talking to addicts. I’m talking to all those people who are NOT addicts, the ones who are not yet users.
To them I say: Drugs don’t help. They don’t solve anything, they don’t improve anything. And no matter what the people around you are doing, you can live your whole life without them, and never miss them. Millions of people do.
I work with drug and alcohol abusers. I’m not a counselor or therapist, but I do get to see and talk to the demographic pretty much every day. And damn … it’s disturbing as hell to see what drugs do to people. Looks to me like they make you feel good – temporarily, VERY temporarily – while they suck every last drop of real goodness out of you, destroying every positive thing about living until nothing is left, not even the “living” part.
According to the users I’ve spoken to, it’s s0000o goddam easy to slide down into it, but you never really get out. Even if you stop using, even if you “beat” addiction, you will never be free. The rest of your life will include all the struggles that other people go through, but added on will be this additional struggle, the struggle to stay clean and sober. For the rest of your life you’ll walk around with this evil monkey whispering in your ear, “C’mon, it’s not that bad. You remember how good we used to have it. Just a taste won’t hurt. Besides, your Gramma died, and your car won’t start. You’re devastated. There’s no way you can cope with all this. No human can. Let’s have just a little bit to get through the next few days, then you’ll feel all better and you’ll never have to touch the stuff again.”
All of you out there considering trying the substance du jour, it’s probably a really good idea if you don’t. If a rich, famous person can get hooked and die in this stupid, futile way, don’t think for a second YOU will beat the odds and get some better result.
So I say again, with the name of a different victim: Philip, you idiot.
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And no, I’m not talking about pot. But I don’t think that’s a good idea either.