Stephen said in his last blog that “despite what we may think, when we connect with people it makes us feel connected to ourselves.” He is right. I continue to go to cardiac rehab, not because I need it, but to be with people.
I’ve talked to Stephen about joining Toastmasters or Rotary or any such organization, but he’s been tentative to do so and now that I read his blog, it’s possible he’s ready. The nice thing about Toastmasters is is prepares you to speak, but you don’t have to venture outside the comfort of the club if you don’t want to. But you’ll be prepared if you need to speak. It’s a place to also meet a lot of other highly motivated people.
Rotary is a service organization, but when you’re already giving service, I’m not sure it works to give more service. Just an opinion.
———————————
I’m further into A Beautiful Boy and realize that the father broke not only the rule of not committing adultery, but he took drugs himself. Unfortunately, he was a bad example to his son. His son started reading trashy stuff about drugs and getting high and it surprises me the father didn’t step in right then and there.
I’ve tried to get a number of essays published in My Turn in Newsweek, and Nick, his son, had one published when he was still a teenager. Yet, he turned to drugs and Meth. So I guess having a lot going for you in one area doesn’t guarantee success in another. The My Turn article was about split families and having to travel from one place to another because the two parents live so far a part. All I could think of was that if the father hadn’t cheated on the boy’s mother, maybe they would still be together. If he dad hadn’t committed such a selfish act, then maybe Nick, his son wouldn’t blame him for the conditions of his life. Although I don’t think the son ever expressed this anger. But the article expresses it subtly. It sounds like that in the end, the father cheating on the mother made the difference.
You find it all the time that people who seem to have so much going for them, fall off the deep end. How else can you explain movie stars and the rich having such crazy mixed up lives when life for them should be a cakewalk.
I’ve decided that it’s not what’s on the surface that counts. It’s what’s inside that counts. Nick quit wearing the aids bracelet because he was afraid of what others might think. He readily admits it. What would his life had been like if he had had the courage to wear the bracelet and say no to drugs. Maybe saying no to drugs is really about having the courage.
Anyway, that’s where my thoughts are at this point in the story. I’ll have more later.
I’ve written 8700 words so far in my new novel and I’m surprised at the places my characters take me. It’s a wonderful experience.
Dad, I am impressed you are reading a beautiful boy, I was wondering if it was a book you would enjoy, are you listening to it or reading it? I have to say that I had many different opinions prior to reading his son’s book tweak. In fact he goes deeper into many of the experiences he had with his dad as a child, although I am impressed he never blames his dad. I wonder though if this exploration into drugs and alcohol is not something artists often do because they have heard that that is what great artists do. I could start making a list but it would never end. In many ways it seems like a right of passage. It doesn’t help that his dad, and many of his dad’s friends were also using drugs heavily, Nick talks a bit more about this in his book. At one point in his book he tells his friend that he will stop this all and then he will have a lot of wonderful content to place in his book. I wonder if in some ways he was looking for material for his book. regardless, he ends up with a bad addiction, one that started when he was very young, and is very hard for him to stop. I believe in some respects that deep down he was also a very sad person, why this is the case I am not sure. You are right he had a lot going for himself. It is a good book, and has changed the way I look at families who suffer from or who are victims of addiction.