Addicts, People with ‘special needs’
By Andrew Glory Mtewa
Published In The nation newspaper of the 25th January, 2010, one of the leading
I have for some time now been interested in studying things by observations that are heavy loads on the lives of human beings. All over the world, people are vulnerable to different kinds of diseases and hardships that regress development of their own, siblings, communities and ultimately their entire countries. These, I like to call, heavy loads on man kind. Some of these loads are deliberately infringed upon oneself and others come as inevitables over which we hardly have any control. They both are misfortunes over nations.
Whilst many people in the world have times to celebrate ‘freedom days’, there is another group, common in Africa, Europe,
Of a particular interest, Addictions, things that when frequented, cling to a part of life that I can not easily describe in simple terms. As if glued with adhesives to the schematic framework of life. They find a place, they get settled, they become unruly and consequently, they control the whole life of an individual. The individual in this case is said to have been addicted to an activity or anything else which I’ll call an object.
Addictions are not addictions as they get invited into lives. They look very innocent, dressed in an appealing outlook and they are cunning. They are activities which most people just call habits at first, just some bad habits, but when nurtured, defended, justified, hidden and retained in a span of time, they change and become ruthless and ugly in outlook. The individual becomes a prisoner of such. They are caught in a life that is ruled by objects and they have no control over their own lives.
This is a hell picture of a life, where one is literally forced by the in-planted addiction to go on it over and over. A friend once told me how hard pornography had gripped his life. He tried to quit this ‘habit’ his ability could not just support him to the point of his need. Freedom! He tried for months until he gave up and went back to that life again but still with no peace, no freedom.
People are forced to go spend the whole day drinking beer, every evening whether they have food at home or not. They may be crying over their shackled life when they are sober, but they realize they are in it again. They feel they can’t live without.
Today, there are people living imprisoned in their day to day lives. Respectable bosses go to work with chains in their lives. Some are forced to take a glass of beer before they start the day’s work. Others disturb the whole house at midnight going to the bathroom or outside to smoke just a single cigar. People scorn at you after you have cleaned their rooms in their absence sometimes because they are afraid you are about to discover their pornographic books and videos.
The victims feel the urge inside of them to break loose, but they just do not manage to come out of the prisons.
Such chains of life rob the victims of their money, peace, joy, confidence of breaking out, their families and most painfully, they lose their souls. They know it though most people hide they are lacking. There was a man who died in his bedroom at one of the places I’ve been raised up in because of drug overdose. He lost his top ranking job, family and life.
In the absence of addiction objects, families crumble, communication is a mess, leaving victims with down moods, harsh and as ruthless to others as the ‘objects’ are to them. They live lives of regrets, fear of getting discovered and are always in hiding. Their whole dependency is on the ‘objects’. They convince themselves that they can not do a sound job unless they get to the object. They later on think they are too much messed up already and continue with this placeless life.
Addictions are not only an indoor issue, I realized that it has a lot of negative impacts on the nation, particularly in the developing world like Chad, Vietnam, Malawi, Somalia, others.
People in work places lack concentration to work related matters, governments and private sector bosses make poor decisions and judgments, workers are usually attacked by loss of memory and frequent diseases related to particular addictions at work which has left the countries regressing in development.
I feel it is good to treat people addicted to different stuff as sick people with special needs. I would recommend rehabilitation institutions be raised in our countries, to take care of these particular psychological cases at some defined periods, costly yes but worth it. Depending on the levels of the attack, different doses of counseling, and if necessary reformatory isolations can be provided to victims. The isolation part can work properly upon consensus with the individual if in a decision-making state or their relatives and work place managers. In doing this, governments in
All these people are needy of a common thing. Freedom! They are bound, some realize it whilst others are even fog-blinded. There is hope however to breakthrough. Don’t give up. Avoid opportunities that you know lead you to bow down to those ‘idols’ and find ‘check mates’ to help you check your life regularly. Your spouse can do this the best way. For example, if parties at night clubs makes you to get pinned down by addictions, let go of them. Remember, garbage in, garbage out. Human beings are made up of what they are most frequently taking in. Addictions should never be encouraged in any way but be mortified.
Some of the things that are reigning in chained people are nicotine, alcohol, lust, cannabis, cocaine, music genres, types of food, stories and sights among others.
Organizations and nations should be proactive in the fight against addictions rather than to wait and keep struggling with them when they attack. People need freedom. As policies on food, refugees and other matters like economy and security are given priority, let the issue of addiction come to table for consideration as well.
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