Beautiful

Have any of you ever sat down, and
Spent quality time with drug addicts?

Have you witnessed the turmoil,
The struggle
The pain
They go through in their life?

Have you seen the vicious cycle
As they come to grips with the fact
That they have a problem,
But just can’t seem to find a way to break free
Of their addiction?

Have you ever been around a drug user
Who’s overcome their addiction?

They count their life in days of sobriety
They constantly look over their shoulder
Hoping nothing will send them back to that dark place again
They pray for the strength to stay clean,
Knowing the difficulty of life
May yet again become too much for them to handle
I’ll tell you it’s painful to watch

Maybe their habit started off as recreational and fun
Maybe it was pain medicine
Maybe it was an escape from
The post traumatic nightmares of a trying life,
Or maybe
There were psychological factors involved

However it started
By the time the drugs dug their hooks in
Their addiction was no longer recreational in nature
They were no longer users going on a joy ride
They were humans,
Struggling to cope,
Praying to be free,
Beaten by life,
Who had adapted a destructive coping mechanism

I speak this,
Because we continue to paint inaccurate pictures of drug abuse
In our actions,
In our words we show our arrogance for life
Our ignorance of our own human frailties,
We overestimate our own strength;

We don’t use drugs,
So we think we’re better than them
Winehouse
Whitney
Better than the millions of lost souls who’ve lost their way
Who have fallen from the pedestal that humans built
Our assessment of the situation
Reaps of stupidity
As we say things like
It’s unfortunate that her lifestyle led to this;

Time and time again
We fail to understand
We are all sinners,
We all have vices that lead us to dark places,
We all have secrets we pray never see the light of day,
All of our lives will lead to this point someday
Where we will stand before God
At the gates of heaven
Stripped of our earthly titles and accomplishments
Bereft of our prestige
Naked
Judged solely on the merits of our humanity,
When it’s all said and done,
Death
Is the only guarantee we have in life

Whitney,
I have never walked in your shoes,
I don’t know what it’s like to be placed on a pedestal
And then targeted
By the same people who once admired you
To be adored
And then have humanity turn their back on you
Because you’ve found it impossible to live up to the image
We’ve created,

Whitney,
I don’t know what it’s like
To have every moment of your life
Good or bad
Broadcast
Analyzed
Discussed by raptors
Publicly raping your character
In front of your child
While you were still alive
Even now, we send our blessings
Half heatedly

Whitney,
I don’t know what it’s like
To be asked to cope with
The insatiable expectations that we place
On our brightest stars,
Or the pain you’ve had to endure
But I do pray
That you’ve finally found the peace you deserve
And that God forgives us
Once again we have failed to embrace one of his angels
That he gave to us
For the purpose of lifting our souls

Again, we have proven to be unworthy…