I don't need drugs even if you do.

I have a couple of topics to deal with today, but will try not to blend them all into one big mishmash. It may not go over well,

As so many folks over the years have accused me of doing drugs, its time to clear the air, permanently, on the record, and smack them into the wall, face first.

Just because you have or had a drug use issue, does not mean I do, did or ever will. I have never taken more than a prescription drug, and don't even like those much. I have over-reacted to most meds given me in the past, even simple anti-biotics. I don't drink constantly, I either drink for social comeraderie, or to ease a physical pain or dull emotions for a short while. I can live without my pipe, even though I would prefer to have it just as it reminds me of someone I wish I was wired more like than not.

The funny thing is this. those who make these accusations often have some substance abuse of their own that they deny or have set up on the altar of self pity that the addict recovery groups make. My vices are simple, I like a drink, I like a smoke, I love my ice cream and other junk foods. But, I can take them or leave them, as I please, to quote the words to M*A*S*H's theme song.

Look, in all my years of being on this planet, one thing has come down to me. Over two thirds of the folks I know use "recreational drugs", abuse their booze, or take perscription meds in amounts and methods not condoned by the FDA, their doctors, pharmacist, or common sense. Yet, these folks get jobs right beside me, and never get caught, even if they do something stupid.

Take the job where the buddy of the boss I could not fire when I was in charge, got my position, I had to still do all the work, while he screwed off and sold drugs out the side door of the company. His brother was part of the deal, even though he never got caught, and in the end, he got the job, and I was out the door, even after the cops came looking for the dealer. If I had been allowed to fire the two idiots for insubordination when I tried, things would have been different, but I don't have a flux capacitor, and can't afford a deLorean.

Too many times, I am surrounded by those who despite breaking the laws about drugs, who get drunk too much and at the wrong times, and lost something, usually my temper, sometimes my job, and often the respect of others. I am not the one screwing up first, but I pay the price.

I have had friends and family who were alcoholics, dated women who washed down anti-depressants with booze while telling me *I* needed medication, and been surrounded by more folks who faked for their drug tests than I care to dream about. I had several bosses and co-workers who damned near maimed or killed me with their working under the influence, or managed to hurt someone else. Yet in the end, the druggies kept their jobs most times, their positions in society, their lives, and I lost everything. Not the way it should have been, the way most folks say it is. No, its the ones who walk the straight and narrow, who don't come to work drunk/stoned or hungover that tend to pay the biggest price. We are the ones the others hurt, kill, or leave in such a rage over their behavior and the failure of society to punish them that we take the beating for not being sensitive to their needs.

What about my needs? Huh, jackasses? Look, this is all I am going to say. If businesses want to save a ton of money, ditch those drug tests. You rarely catch the users, and all it does is encourage them to get more radical in their usage and demands that we accept their endangering their co-workers. And can that crap about tolerance of their medical condition and allowing them rehab if it causes an accident or they get busted using on property. Just fire their asses when you do catch them. Those of us who obey the rules will thank you.

To the rest of you, if you do drugs, walk away from me, don't tell me about it. If you do, I will let you get what you deserve, and refuse to hit the safety stop from now on. You made the choice, live with the consequences. Or die with them. I refuse to support you and your lifestyles.

　

We are all Damned in some way....

I took some time off this to get the initial interview in and do the fretting that comes with job hunting as you wait. But you can only wait so long before venting some steam. Today is a good day to vent, and I have a good one to share from my beliefs.

No matter how good a christian, muslim, jew, or other faith you believe yourself to be, we are all human, and thus fall short of the ideals of our religions. This goes doubly so for myself. I am trying to live better, do better, but still the little things trip me up. Let's face it, I will go to Hell for a cheeseburger, and by the Law, it is "verboten" as the Germans would say. Not to mention a pizza, chicken cordon bleu, and other mixings of foods that are expressly in the Bible/Torah as no-no's.

What I am out to say is tougher to get across than just that I am damned. We all are. Look, I can smack most folks with their own canon of faith. I have a list some where in this bag of chapters and verses most folks fail, and few can even abide the 10 Commandments, let alone all 613 in Numbers. Yeah, there is a whale of a lot of commandments, not a guppy that most folks envision. I don't believe that God has no mercy on us for failing, as long as we try. But we have to try, and not just pick and choose commandments, but keep to as many as we can, trying to keep all. Some no longer make sense, some seem foolish but have a grounding in science that we miss, others are just common sense.

Its not just the three monotheistics I am talking about here, either. At least Buddhism has it built in that we will fail, but still some act as if they have achieved perfection even in those type of faiths. That is what I am trying to say. We are doomed to fail, but as long as we try, and try to keep it all, we have a chance. But not if we pick and choose. You choose which of the commands of your faith you wish to follow, and claim to be just and perfect, you are going to burn with me, over the coals of Satan's Barbeque.

Yes, I say I am failing, the only way I will get into Heaven is if God issues a general amnesty over pizza and other meat and cheese mixtures, not to mention the miscegenation clauses of mixing gene pools. its all those mixed fruit cocktails and the like. Not to mention I smoke, drink and cuss... but I never found the exact commandments against those... just words saying to moderate them and not criticize others who fail, for we have our our shortcomings.

Now, if you don't mind, I am going to dream of the cheeseburger that will damn me to Hell for eternity, as I wait on the second interview call for a job I am trying to get. If I am lucky, I might actually have the cash soon to have the need to resist the temptation it represents.