Gracias, Mrs. Ford

Just thinking (always a dangerous occupation for me) about former the former First Lady, Cancer and Addiction Survivor.

I'm not sure, and even if I was sure it's only my opinion, but I kinda think that this one lady has probably saved more lives than anyone else since Bill & Dr. Bob (for my non-drunk friends out there, they are the two founders of AA - a great story to check out some day even if you're not "one of us"), and if you factor in the countless lives she saved by going public with her fight against Cancer, maybe even more successful.

That being said, there are times I wonder if alkies & addicts wouldn't maybe be better off without a "Betty Ford Center," or "Celebrity Rehab," or any of the countless, pointless references to sobriety that society is bombarded with these days.  Don't get me wrong, there is no way I would ever say that someone doesn't deserve their shot (or, like me, multiple shots) at sobriety; but to my way of thinking there is something fundamentally wrong with wearing an addiction - or a recovery - as a "badge of honor" or some other kind of claim to fame.  No doubt there are people who have seen somebody famous get cleaned up and thought that maybe they could give it a shot as well, and just the fact that we don't necessarily need to hide in the shadows is a good thing (usually), but the fact remains, for every one who "gets it" there are 20 or more who don't.  For every Tom Watson, Stevie Ray Vaughn, or yes, even Betty herself, there are way too many Lindsay Lohans, Gary Buseys, or Charlie Sheens who give the recovering public a black eye.  It's bad enough that people already think of AA as a religion, a cult, a crutch, or any of the other, shall we say, not so nice things - and I know that AA, NA, CA, and all the other "A's" are not the only way to get or stay sober - but every time one of these yahoos goes back out amongst 'em, at least part of the blame usually gets placed on a 12 Step program's door step.

Not really sure where I expected this to go, but I guess my point was that I just wanted to say Thanks to someone who at least helped to make some people realize that we're not all bums & gutter trash.  


R.I.P.