Words So Sadly True

Listening to music the other evening, a Neil Young song came on the mix from Folk Alley. I was only half listening as I was studying for a certification exam today. As the song ended the words came through loud and clear:

Every junkie's
Like a setting sun

It was from Neil Young and a song from 1972- The Needle and the Damage Done. It speaks to what will never come to life or be seen by others thanks to the destructiveness of heroin addiction.

As one who works in the addiction field these lines are as true as any can be. I have seen too many "junkies" die from the effects of their illness. Some are heroin overdoses; others are the slow and very painful death of alcohol liver disease; then there's lung cancer and heart attacks; or the death in life from "wet-brain."

All are horrible to watch or be impacted by as a family member or friend.

Hearing those words again in Young's plaintive vocals raised the pain of addiction to depths of pain and sadness.

Moments of silence are always appropriate

• for the addict who continues to suffer, 
• for family members and friends who are as powerless as the addict,
• and for the losses our world sustains with each death.