Module 1: SELF RESPECT

(Page 19) Resource sheet 2

AN INDIAN EXPERIENCE

This was the first time he had felt free from fear. After he had been persuaded to try the drug, an overwhelming sense of relief and deep happiness had come over him. He could not remember any time in his life when he had felt so free.

But the drug wore off and the fears came back. He could remember the awful day when he'd had to go up to the stage to fetch one prize after another. The hall had been packed with parents and school friends. He always had to do well. It was what his parents expected. He was their only son and their greatest pleasure was showing him off to relatives and friends. He was going to take on part of his father's business and was told he'd make a great success of that too. But what if he failed?

Again the fear gripped him. He was not going to become an addict. He could stop whenever he wanted to, but it was one way to freedom. Soon he needed to increase the amount he took to get the same effect. Then he tried other types of drug. But this all had to be kept secret from his parents.

On leaving college they encouraged him to accept a girl in marriage. Quite soon there was a baby to think about and care for. With this came fears that he would fail as a father. Eventually the drugs affected the way he ran the business and it collapsed. His parents disowned him and his wife threw him out.

Months went by until the pain of taking drugs was as great as the pain he was trying to avoid. At last he reached the point when he had to admit that he needed and wanted help.

He dragged himself to a drug rehabilitation centre. He slept on the floor but remembered feeling more comfortable than he had been for months. He was given simple practical tasks to do and regular discipline began to come back into his life. He began to talk and people understood. They didn't judge. They accepted him and cared. He started to follow the twelve steps suggested by Alcoholics Anonymous, as others there were doing. He decided to trust God as he understood him.

There was plenty that needed to change in his life. The three people closest to him had been deeply hurt. He went to them so that they could see the change in him. He admitted the wrongs he had done and asked for their forgiveness. Within two years he was back with his wife, they were expecting another baby and he was helping others find the freedom he had always longed for and had now found.