Putting myself in someone else's shoes

[animist]

I'm going to try to go to a hospital today in Louisville to see a friend of mine. He's been in a bad way for a while. He can't quit drinking, and he can't successfully commit suicide through drinking himself to death either. Although he's tried both repeatedly over many years - and I do mean suicide literally, not as some inflated figure of

Comments

[shockwave77598]

Trouble is, smart intelligent people can see when you are trying to manipulate them. So they'll tell you what you want to hear to get you out of their hair and then go right back to what they want to do. Pulling at the heartstrings or the old Wonderful Life bit doesn't work with them

[animist]

Oh yes, pain isn't rational: it is rationalizing. Struggling with addiction to alcohol knows social, economic, or educational boundaries. I had a good job, college education, my own house, and even was a member of Mensa. I was just as much of an alcoholic as the high school drop out living under a bridge. I'm no stranger to the power of the rational mind to self-justify and obfuscate the facts! Smart is as smart does, in the final analysis. The hardest thing for me was learning to stop paralyzing myself with needlessly over thinking my situation, and take action to change it. And to stop trying to be so self reliant that I refused help!

[animist]

Know no boundaries, I meant to say. Sorry... I am posting from my iPhone!

[lupagreenwolf]

Ouch. I'm glad you found your way out of that maze, too.

[animist]

Thanks! The fact I have done so enables me to be compassionate in a deep way. I can recall my own pain, heartbreak and despair, and be able to suffer with them, yet share what I did to escape to share my hope.