Growing Out of Addictions?

Ok so I was going to post on something else but as I was signing into Blogger, a news story came across the screen about the cause of Ike Turner's death last month... a cocaine overdose. Immediately images of Lawrence Fishburne as Ike doing a line of coke in What's Love Got to Do With It, came through my mind.

The second thing that I thought of was do you ever out grow your addiction? Do you ever become just too damn old to be doing the same bullshit? Whether it is cocaine like Ike or alcohol or shopping or eating or unhealthy relationships, not only a date but friendships as well... do you ever get old enough, mature enough, or wise enough to say enough is enough.

Just like I can't imagine my grandfather snorting coke at his age... I can't see myself in a relationship where I am not getting as much as I am putting in. I can't see myself in a relationship where I don't feel complete. I can't see myself in a relationship where I feel the only thing that we have is the time we spent together and as friends. So what a better wake up call for myself and maybe for you to remove some of those addictions out of your life. And what better time of year.

When I called my mother to tell her about good ole Ike Turner, the first thing out her mouth was, "At his age..."

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

i thought the same exact thing when i heard this today. ive never had an addiction or have never even used drugs so i dont quite get what the hell it would do for me at 76

Chet said...

I was just reading an article in Jet (dated January 14, 2008) while riding the bus to work this morning the magazine paid tribute to the late: Ike Turner and thought to myself that "maybe Ike wasn't so bad and that his drug use and other abuses had long been gone, but now you tell us that he was still addicted to drugs. Now that is just horrible. Just plain foolish!

Anonymous said...

well if u don't get the help u need u will not out grow certain addictions, drug, alcohol, sex, its a mental thing and no matter how old u are if u dont get the help u will be doing the same ole thing until u die, case in point, IKE TURNER.

Kyon Saucier said...

It's not so much that one outgrows a drug or alcohol addiction because trully no one ever has ever been like when I grow up I wanna be a crackhead or twacked out meth addict running around talking to myself with no teeth. No one has ever been like, you know what? I going to make my life's ambition to be a drunk. Drug and alcohol addictions are far more subtle and nefarious than that.

The question to those caught up in the addictions then is not so much haven't you outgrown that behavoir? The question should be are you ready to face your life without leaning on this self destructive crutch? Ike Turner, hate him or love him had some deeply rooted issues and he was in alot of pain. The drugs he used to cope with that. What is so sad is that he never learned or was willing to learn how to live without that crutch. Not everyone can do it, but some of us who have walked down that path made the decision to live without the crutch.

Just the same it is a tragedy. No one should die like that even by their own hands...

E said...

kyon saucier took the words right out my mouth....it is a shame that he never got the help that he needed and continued on that self-destructive path. Then again maybe he quit for a bit and came back to it over and over. At least he's in peace now.

I can't help but wonder how Tina took the news. As abusive as Ike was to her, I'm sure a small part of her still cared about him.

Mr. Jones said...

I'm with Kyon on this.

Anonymous said...

I, too, agree with Kyon about Ike Turner's death. Also, sadly, we won't see the likes of Ike again in our lifetime as it's nearly impossible to calculate the impact he's had on rock music as an "art form". His style, his class, his influence, his funk, his showmanship, his brilliance. The cause of his death will give lots of folks a reason to judge him even more than they already have. Too bad!!! Btw....great blog!!!