On getting clean...

 

"Humble"---A new testimony song from Steve Cline

We have had the good fortune to have posted music and some quotes from Steve Cline on this blog previously. Steve is a pretty deep thinker. He lives in West Virginia and has a powerful story to tell us, and I think that we should hear what he's saying and sit with that for awhile and take what works for us with us. If you read this blog regularly you know that some of our constant themes are recovery, religion and spirituality, and the creativity and beauty that is around us and within us. We hit all of these themes in Steve's music and in much of what he has to say. Do I always agree with Steve? No. But his testimony and his music get and hold my attention, and I know that there are many people out there who will benefit greatly from hearing Steve and knowing that there is someone out there who knows their road and can put it into music and share much-needed hope.

The words are as follows:

I was raised to be a prideful sinner

always to stand up for myself

was how to be a winner

but then I found out that road is just full of glimmer

it'll take u to hell a whole lot quicker 

we all need to forgive and be humble

give the shirt off of our back and love our brother

we need to deny our flesh and stay sober

we need to walk as Jesus walked and be humble

there's a way to man that may seem right

but theres only one way that leads to life

we have to trust that Gods way is right

if we put our faith in him he will bring us through the fire

Steve says:

I'm in the process of trying to start a group meeting around McDowell county. As of right now idk of any. A friend of mine is starting one in welch in Feb. I'm trying to get one going in n the Gary area. These bigger cities have at least one everyday. with all the addiction and deaths from addiction we need a place where people who are struggling can come to talk with others who have been there and not feel ashamed. A place where no one looks down on them. I reached out to the mayor of Gary yesterday an plan on talking to a couple pastors to see if I can find a place to have these meetings. I'm trying to see how many people would be in interested in attending these meetings. The only way we will get stronger is in unity. like, comment, and share if you or someone you know would be interested.---January 27

and

there are people who think they know what recovering addicts are going through but just because you've done a couple pills or snorted a line of coke doesn't make you an addict in the same way that working at a hospital doesn't make you a Dr. no matter how much clean time we have there are days we wake up wondering if this is gonna be the day we slip. it's a constant battle of the mind especially when you have the means to do so. you may think that your actions don't have an effect on an individual and you probably don't care but they do. and I know it's another tool of the enemy to try to get me back but I'm sure that others don't know that. in the past anytime we felt anger, joy, resentment, loneliness, our escape was drugs. Now days I use the bible and prayer. but 20+ years of running to the wrong things takes time to break those cycles. I also know that there are certain people who don't want to see us succeed, but all I'm saying is just watch how you treat people,, you might be the straw that breaks the camel's back.---January 26

Those are powerful statements that come straight from the heart. I think Steve is being a realist here, and I say that with my own struggles and the struggles of many friends in mind. The January 27 statement brought a reaction from someone in McDowell County, West Virginia that I believe is entirely justified. They wrote:

I’ve said that before! Here our county was having the highest od rate in the nation at one time, and not only was there no facilities available for recovery, but there’s not even any AA type meetings! It’s proof to me how our state government thinks we don’t matter in McDowell, and why it’s SOOO very harmful for residents and former residents to think it’s ok for them to leave here and talk like we’re nothing but addicts and low life’s with no redeemable qualities.

Why do I think that this statement is totally justified? Because I believe that the person who wrote this knows from first-hand experience what they're talking about and because it is certainly true that West Virginia and most of Appalachia do not receive the levels of social services and care that are needed. Most of the region lives in a semi-colonial state, producing wealth for export and exporting workers to other states and providing large numbers of people to the military but getting almost nothing back that reaches the grassroots. Most of the politicians act as if they're serving colonial masters. I cannot think of a nicer way to say it. People who want to get sober may have to go elsewhere, as the writer says. But why can't home be part of the care and medicine we need?

Better Than I Deserve, Values-Based Organizing, Recovery, & Values, Anxiety, And Grief

I think that the best union and community organizing is done as values-based organizing, meaning that from the very beginning the people involved are engaged in changing their workplaces and communities and themselves and those around them based on what their leading values are. Do we go into making changes by loving those around us more or less than we hate those with power? Do we understand what power and leadership are, and do we know how to work with these in ourselves and with others? Are we doing the work for self-advancement or for collective advancement? Is our work about consumption and exchange or is it about getting everyone on the same boat and working together for everyone's shared interests? How do we identify and work with our interests even when they're in conflict? What are we willing to risk fort the sake of ourselves and the sake of those we care about? These questions come up and drive values-based lives and social change.

The values-based approach to social change owes much to the recovery movement. Think about it: we're all trying to recover from the damage has has been done to us and that we have done to ourselves and others, and we can't separate doing that from taking power and cooperating with others in our daily lives.

With all of this in mind I am pretty interested in the Better Than I Deserve effort that I have mentioned on this blog previously. I don't know where the guy who does Better Than I Deserve is coming from on every count, and I don't agree with everything that I see there, but I'm impressed enough to engage with Better Than I Deserve and consider what he's doing in light of recovery and making social change. If you're on either of those journeys, please watch these and find Better Than I Deserve on Youtube to start with.

    

Think about it, smile about it, pray on it, pass it on or leave it on the shelf...

(Some of my friends will get this, some won't.)

 

Anxiety, Gratitude, and Compassion with Better Than I Deserve

I am still picking up on the Better Than I Deserve Youtube channel. I think that the guy hosting this knows what he's talking about and I think that he's orienting towards people struggling with substance abuse disorders, recovery, and the kind of stress working-class people go through every day. These are short videos with lots in them. Please join me in checking him out and learning together.

Dealing with anxiety

Gratitude

Compassion

Inspiring Work Done In West Virginia---A Blessing For The Four Seasons Recovery Center In Bluefield, W. Va.

 

Another look at healing: 'Dopesick' author focuses on people tackling the opioid crisis in new book 'Raising Lazarus'

This is another lift from National Public Radio, this time from their "Here & Now" show on August 30, 2022. Under discussion here is Beth Macy's book 'Raising Lazarus.'

The show that I'm focusing on here has to do with what gets called "the opioid crisis" and how we respond to that crisis and the people at Ground Zero in that crisis. I feel overwhelmed by it much of the time. Maybe you share my feelings. Over time I have opposed needle exchanges, and I have opposed legalization of drugs because I have believed that these signal social approval or surrender to something that is bad for people. I remember dope taking over communities in the early 1970s, and I continue to believe that that was used as a means of social control and to put a brake on organizing and protests.  

But this story confronts our lack of compassion and attention to what's going on, and I imagine that Beth Macy's book 'Raising Lazarus' does the same. I'm looking forward to reading the book. Some of what is discussed in this story touches upon what I recently blogged about when reviewing the book 'Dopamine Nation.' 

This is not abstract for me. I know people who struggle with opioid use, and if you're a working-class person you probably have family or live in a community that has been negatively affected by Big Pharma and doctors pushing pain meds and the illegal trade in these drugs. I come from an area of the country devastated by this and by the social conditions that created and gave room for this devastation. These drugs, and worse ones, seem to be the cause of some terrible suffering where I live now as well.

I'm ashamed of my past lack of compassion. I think that this interview makes a strong case for harm reduction rather than the policies that we have in place now. I'm still not in the legalization camp, and I'm not ready to fully embrace the author's view that "anything that gets people to care" is going to be a social good, but I do want to support a version of "barefoot doctors" in our communities, fully resourced, who "raise Lazarus" and get people on the road to recovery. In my mind, recovery entails some kind of progressive social action. It sounds as if Macy agrees with that to some extent. 

Macy is telling a true story, with all of the ambiguities that truth entails. As I said, I have not read the book, but it does sound as if she ultimately sees the story she is telling as one of healing and hope.    

Please listen to the NPR story here.

Here is an ABC news story on the book and author:    

Here is a publisher's video on the book: