A few days ago a house manager - who’d been clean over a year - returned to the dark side.
He claimed he didn’t know why it happened. While away from the house the prior Sunday a panhandler approached him. And the next thing he knew he was asking the man if could score heroin.
After he and the panhandler injected the heroin, the manager fell out from an overdose. Only CPR from the panhandler – and a call to 911 - saved his life. When the manager came to, paramedics were treating him.
After that it was on. During the week he took a couple shots of whiskey each night before bed. At the end of the week - after receiving a monthly bonus – he purchased some crack. .
And that was the end. Instead of being where he was supposed to be - in the office collecting weekly service fees last Friday night - he was in his room smoking a rock.
When the supervisor who caught him offered to let him start the program over at the Mesa location he declined. He wanted to continue getting high.
So what happened? What demons blind us to the knowledge we have about the consequences of picking up again? After all, here was a man who’d been clean for over a year. A man who spent his waking time helping others into recovery. And doing a fair job of it.
The 12-step literature addresses the value of being spiritually fit in order to avoid relapse. But we’re not sure what happened with this man..
If he's fortunate enough to return we’ll ask him.
