July 11, 2014

Smart Bears, Angry Rats

What does it all mean?

              My son had been reading the story.

"I like the story.  I'm glad you didn't kill off Sammy's cat or the mice.  But what does the snake have to do with recovery?" he asked

"The snake represents addiction, or any bad habit, really.  The mice have to attack the snake now. The longer they wait, the more likely the snake will get them.  They have to attack the snake together.  People have a better chance of recovering if they do it now, and they don't try to do it alone."

"The mice struggle.  Did you struggle?"

"I was thinking about my first year of sobriety when I wrote about the mice.  Brown holds on while the snake tries to wrap itself around him, but he keeps fighting.  The first year I had to fight to stay sober.  Grey bites the snake again and again.  It shows there's more than one way to fight the snake.  The hawk is like a Higher Power that saves the mice when they feel like they've fought snake as long as they can. "   

"OK, but what does the snake's infection represent?"

"I don't know, but it moves the story along."

 Today I will not give up, I will not go it alone.

 

Smart Bears, Angry Rats (c) 2014 by Ken Montrose

 

 

g-NAts

 

Thank you for your support

                The next day Violet told the group she was leaving.   The group was happy for her, at least until she asked for a favor. 

"I want us all to stay in touch with Calvin," Violet said.  A stunned silence followed.

"Why?" Barb asked.  "He ignored every bit of advice we ever gave him.  He killed a young girl."

"He's learned his lesson too late," Violet said.  "He's done something terrible.  But, the court will punish him.  He's one of us. It's our job to support him."

"You know we love you, Violet," Tan Man said, "but I don't like being lumped in with Calvin.  He knew driving drunk could kill someone, and he kept doing it."

Violet looked at each group member in turn. "If you've driven drunk once, you could be in his shoes."  Another long silence followed.

"What do you think Ken?" Bob asked me.

I wasn't sure what I thought.  Eventually, I said, "There's no way to enable him now, but I'd find it hard to support him."

"How many people would get sober if they never did anything hard?" Violet asked.  I knew she had a point.

 Today I will try to support people, without enabling, even when it's hard to do so.

 

g-NAts (c ) 2013 by Ken Montrose

 

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