Believing the Grass is Green Now

Crocus, early spring

In the coffee shop, the man across the table made a couple of phone calls explaining he was drunk and needed detox. He said he was a week behind on his rent. He said he would walk in. He said he was located three miles from where we were sitting.

I got up to leave. He said, "I've got a situation here."

I said, "We all have situations."

He said, "I'm about to fix it."

I smiled and said, "Good luck with the fix," and left.

All addicts think that everyone else has a perfect life and they are the only ones to fail. This is an illusion we all share, to some extent. Everyone thinks the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. It's not.

Everyone has an extraordinary life. Everyone has problems and situations. We spend all of our time "fixing" things to make them right, or quiet, or peaceful, or better, or whatever.

The fact is we live in a river of events. There is always at least one situation to fix, usually more. There is no escape. There is no fix.

There is only the way, the path, fate, a higher power, faith, or whatever spirit brings you assistance. Some times it's harder than others to keep that belief, to go on. This doesn't mean believing is wrong or that we haven't got enough belief. It only means that things are really, really difficult at this moment.

And, as we know, this too will pass.