Madison Craig

I grew up unsheltered. Yes, that may sound a bit weird but my family had no choice. My family has struggled with addiction and mental health issues for as long as I can remember. I am thankful for my mom each and everyday because she did not shelter me from this. I saw the good and the bad growing up. The withdrawals. The constant family arguments. The screaming matches. All of it. Even though I grew up surrounded by this dysfunction, I would not change it at all. I have the empathy, sympathy, and the wisdom that few people at my age have. I remember first learning about what addiction was. Addiction. The fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity. My aunt, Kimmy, had a substance addiction. This is how I first remember learning about addiction. I remember seeing her on her good days with the biggest brightest eyes. She was the most friendly outgoing person you would ever meet. She entered a room and lit it up with her big smile. She is the reason that I emphasize kindness and avoid conflict. Kimmy was our peace maker. She was the most talkative person, besides on her bad days. On those days, her bright blue eyes would become bloodshot and droopy. Her nose would begin to run. Her, once coordinated, speech became jumbled and confusing. These are the most common stereotypes of addicts. Many people say they do it to themselves and these addicts are assumed to be uneducated drop outs, ignorant, careless, homeless, and criminals. The stereotypes often say addicts do not want to change their behaviors and do not care about the people around them that are hurting from their choices. These preconceived ideas are based on very few stories that have been told and repeated. Chimamanda Adichie once said that, “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story” (Adichie, 42). You see, this relates to my story so far because whenever I brought up addiction people were so easy to jump on the insults about the classical stereotypes. People would say how lazy and unmotivated addicts were and how they deserved to die. Their faces slowly dropped and their eyes widened when I explained that I was related to an addict. Kimmy was not lazy, unmotivated, uncaring, ignorant, or any of the stereotypical characteristics of addicts. Kimmy was a loving, sweet sneakerhead who could talk anyones ear off about how much she loved her family. It is easier for some people to believe in the stereotypes of addicts, even if they do not know any personally, because of all of the stories that people have told. I too once believed in these stereotypes, purely because I did not know any better. I was so quick to believe the lies and stories told in the media and I never once stopped to question them and learn about addiction myself. Kimmy had dreams just as much as any other person in the world. She may have struggled with addiction but she still planned to open her very own grooming salon. She was hardworking, dedicated, and loving even while she was struggling with her very own internal battle. When few people tell a story they have full advantage to manipulate the story. Few people spoke about addicts. The families of addicts very rarely stepped up and told the stories of how their loved ones were not uncaring, ignorant, or unmotivated. This is what causes so many negative stereotypes, especially of addicts. The narrative of addicts is completely controlled by stuck up, pessimistic people who have barely dealt with any addicts besides when they see someone on the side of the street with their eyes bloodshot, walking around aimlessly. No one stops and thinks about that person's family, dreams, or experiences. These people do not stop to think about these people's lives outside of their addiction and they are so quick to speak up about the ‘crackhead’ that they saw on the side of the street. People just believe in the preconceived ideas and stories of addicts being uneducated and unsuccessful because of few stories told. These stories that people believe are not completely untrue but instead they are incomplete. Many people have experienced being homeless and addicted, purely because they stand out. These people are the first to be realized due to their homlessness and being forced to live on the side of the street. Many people are so quick to make the mistake of assuming that addicts are incapable of maintaining jobs, having functional families, or being successful in any way. In reality, most addicts are hard-working people who pay their bills, have families, and are, in some cases, extremely successful. No one stops and realizes that addiction is all around us, even if we cannot see it. A CEO of a multimillionaire company could be addicted to alcohol. The person in church next to you could be a pill popper. Your coworker could be addicted to gambling. Cigarettes, gambling, pills, alcohol, caffeine, shopping, social media, sex, and so much more. We may not be able to change the way that people think about addiction but others can at least give knowledge to the people who believe the common stereotypes of the world. We cannot control how people interpret the knowledge given to them but at least people did what they could do by educating others. There is a prayer that was said by Reinhold Niebuhr that is correlated with addiction, “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference”. The Serenity Prayer means letting go of situations beyond your control and doing what is within your control. There is only so much a person can do to break stereotypes. There is only so much educating, supporting, and healing that a person can help with when it comes to addiction. At the end of the day, as basic humans, the most we can do is sympathize, educate, and support to break generational stereotypes and stigmas.

References

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “The Danger of a Single Story.” TED, 2021, https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.

Rose, Steve. “The Meaning of the Serenity Prayer.” Steve Rose, PhD, 6 Nov. 2021, https://steverosephd.com/the-meaning-of-the-serenity-prayer/.