Nothing to lose. Everything to gain.

My dear friend Julie has difficulty living with herself. Little wonder. After all, she’s become a depressed recluse. And an alcoholic. If that were me, I’d have  difficulty, too. But I have an innate and overwhelming desire to be happy. I’d want to change. Or so I speculate. I can’t stand living in an unhappy state of being. I keep asking Julie, doesn’t she want to be happy? She tells me, yes. But still, she declines offers of help. And continues to languish in what she concedes to be a state of despair and anguish. I shake my head. In disbelief. The solution is so simple. Yet so far away. For dear Julie. Yes, she’s cursed. By an addiction. That won’t let go. We’re told that Julie has to rely on herself. There’s no other way. Of course, that’s malarkey. Let me take control. Forcefully. Julie would have nothing to lose. And everything to gain. --Jim Broede