Peace, All !

Back.. and not yet “recovered” from a week-long blogging hiatus. Last
time I do that.

First: cool it y'all. Take a deep breath. Life is good, whether we are
in recovery, remission, recession, regret, relapse, reclusion or
reflection.

Last week I posted some random musings of blogger friend Daamage'd.
One item wondered about Obama's toughness on getting health care
reformed; another was a riff on the old joke about smoking after sex;
and thirdly (sp?) a “wondering,” half in jest and half in frustration,
about why society won't allow an addict who recovers to lead a healthy
life declare ” I beat (the Big A) addiction! ” Just as one who
survives cancer can say (“smugly” …more on that word in a moment) I
beat the Big C.

Whew… well, as you can see from the nearly 30 comments below,
Praajek's guest blogger's addiction/cancer supposition unleashed a
torrent of hate and invective. You would have thought that Daamage'd
had proposed legalizing child porn or Republican maritial fidelity.

Let's be honest here folks. Some of these comments are just plain
hateful. (thank the gods Molly Carter of the Hazelden Institute
injected, I mean, shed light on all this darkness. Thanks Molly for
your defense of Daamage'd). Why the intolerance for free speech and
the right to express an opinion …. even one indelicately
expressed…. Disagree, yes .. But cool it on the hate stuff.

Which brings us to Daamage'd's ill-chosen use of the word “smugly”
which I should have edited. In a defense re-comment, Daamage'd wrote
that she, like Obama recently, should “recalibrate” his use of the “s”
word, which detracted and distracted from the real message: that, why
can't a recovered drug victim declare victory just as a recovered
cancer ( or heart disease, etc) victim?

Granted, not all… indeed not most, cancer victims engage in
behaviors that contribute to or actually cause their disease… Family
history, DNA, environmental and socio-economic factors all can doom
one to many different diseases. But what about Winston who chooses to
smoke cigarettes, surely an invitation to lung cancer; or Donald, who
ignores basic dietary hazards and is tempted to try the quad beef
pattie quad cheese quad bacon quad-almighty burger? Surely one who
gives in to the temptation to eat one of these nutritional gateway
food drugs cannot be surprised to find himself coming back for
more…a moral failing that could lead to cancer or heart
failure? …who am I to judge?

So, let's remain cool…continue to communicate.. but ditch the diss,
muffle the mean and hang the hate..
Praajek

Sent from mi mePhone