Turning Either to the Left or Right 2-8-12

Anderson, South Carolina

On Sunday, June 28, 1914, a driver made a wrong turn into a dead-end side street in Sarajevo. At approximately 10:45 am, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were killed by an assassin working for the Black Hand. His assassination in Sarajevo precipitated Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia. This caused the Central Powers (including Germany, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire, and Austria-Hungary) and the allies of Serbia to declare war on each other, starting World War I. When the smoke cleared four and a half years later, 16,543,868 military and civilian deaths were recorded. 21,228,813 military wounded were recorded for twenty-two nations.

In recovery meetings alcoholics and drug addicts often quip about making wrong turns, ending up in liquor stores or crack houses. Tragically for many, the quips turn into catastrophic repeated realties. Recently a man I was working with made a left turn onto Gossett Street, driving to the scrap metal yard at the end of the road. There he was paid $400 from an automated ATM in exchange for the title to his perfectly fine car, worth thousands. The scrap metal yard proceeded to grind up the car for scrap metal, with my set of mechanics tools still in the trunk. He proceeded to ‘hire’ a cocaine prostitute and in mere hours destroyed his life, losing his place to live, his car, job, and a loving fellowship of men and women who were highly supportive of him over the previous months. He was confined to a psychiatric lock-up, where he experienced a nightmarish week. He was released only to again make a wrong turn, ending up in a place of incomprehensible demoralization; at the end of yet another crack cocaine run. We had to let him go.

One of our women left an evening recovery meeting several months ago on foot and immediately made a left turn on Murray Avenue to visit one of the conveniently located nearby crack houses. After a quick hard crack run in the house she re-crossed Murray Avenue only to be hit by a car going one direction at high speed. Catapulted across the four-lane roadway, she was run-over by a car going the other direction. Wrong turns produced a catastrophic result for her.

Duke Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were on a humanitarian visit to a war hospital when they died as a result of their driver making an unintentional wrong turn into a dead end street, where an assassin spotted them. Cocaine addicts make intentional wrong turns and shred the fabric of their lives. One destroyed herself in seconds. In one scenario millions died, in two others but one was lost at a time. One cannot overstate consequences coming from making wrong turns, intended or not. Most of us can recall vivid memories of decision points in our lives, points we would pay dearly for the opportunity to revisit with the greater wisdom and knowledge of hindsight. Alas, we have no practice runs at life.

One of the on-going challenges in recovery work is allowing people to make wrong turns in their lives, not getting in the way of their bottoms. We learn quickly we cannot protect people from making wrong turns. No one can protect Archdukes from unintentional turns into blind alleys. No one can protect alcoholics and addicts from liquor stores and crack houses. They must learn to seek defense for themselves against their own demons. Assassins and drug dealers are inclined to get the same macabre results.

We can’t predict where assassins might show up but we can predict with total certainty the results of unmitigated alcoholic drinking and drug use. The insanity of addiction comes from its victims continuing their deadly turns, despite knowledge of near-certain extinction. Since the Armistice in 1918 that brought an end to World War 1, one can estimate somewhere between five and eight million citizens died in the United States alone from alcohol and drug abuse. Yet much of the American entertainment, hospitality, and sports industries are financed by producers of alcohol, a well-known gateway to other drugs. If one were to capture data from the thirty nations involved in World War 1, results would reveal more have died from intentional wrong turns into alcohol and drugs than died in the Great War to end all wars. Nearly a century later we fight an ongoing war with no Armistice in the works.

Last night after enjoying an early evening birthday dinner with thirty friends, I made a right turn onto Calhoun Street, ending up on the university campus. In the recital hall an accomplished pianist and a splendid lyric opera singer provided rapturous renditions of French arias and classical songs. As I sat there, feeling far removed from the nightmarish world of alcoholism and drug abuse, I thought about the turns these two finely synchronized musicians made in their lives. Not picking the easier softer way in life, they spent hours in tedious practice and study, preparing for effective careers as performers and professors. I thought of how they made turns giving affirmation and inspiration to their students, encouraging them to find life down Calhoun Street rather than on the other side of Murray Avenue. How very close these utterly different universes are to one another, yet so far.

As I walked across campus on an unusually warm winter evening, I wondered about turns the young idealistic students about me were going to make, how they would find the right turns to meaningful rewarding lives, avoiding the left turns leading to destruction. How would their decision-making skills work when faced with the inevitable turbulence that comes with life.

In my work with those recovering from alcoholism and addition, I stress the importance of seeking divine guidance in all the affairs of life. Life can be vexing and decision making very difficult, especially when emotions and objectivity have been distorted by addiction. The way alcoholics and addicts can achieve effective defense against the demons of alcohol and drugs is to press hard into the heart of God, seeking Him in all affairs of life, especially in the multitude of life’s decisions, be it to turn right on Calhoun Street and end up in the recital hall or to turn left, crossing Murray Avenue and ending up in death’s den.

The eleventh step in recovery declares “Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.” Eighty years of collective experience by millions in recovery underscore the vast benefits deriving from trusting God about where to make our turns in life. “As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action. We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day, “Thy will be done.” We are then in much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-pity, or foolish decisions.”

We just might get across the street safely and enjoy a rapturous song.