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This song
always gives me pause and causes me to reflect.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=k0t0EW6z8a0#!
Please Click on the link above.
I've seen the needle
and the damage done
A little part of it in everyone
But every junkie's
like a settin' sun.
Of course, when
Neil Young wrote and first performed
Needle and the Damage Done the drug culture hadn't really been exposed to meth (or crank) or
for that matter cocaine. Those iconic drugs would come later. He was
writing about heroin, injected by needle, and mourning the loss of
fellow musicians. The first part of the song sets the tone - how he'd
seen the damage done, hit the city and how his fellow
musicians kept dying, even after some success. Milk blood to keep
from running out - the lengths junkies go to make sure they can get
high again.
But the last stanza - wow. A little part of it in everyone.
Isn't that so true? Most of us have some sort of addictive or
compulsive behavior, whether it's cigarettes, booze, gambling, or some
other vice. I've sure had my share of vices and the last one - eating -
I just cannot seem to control. Granted, it's not heroin addiction by
any means, but it’s a little part of it in me, and I do understand.
After all my surgeries and procedures involving opioids for pain control
I can tell you it's probably a damn good thing I never got into the
*ahem* recreational use of said drugs. I know I've got addictive
tendencies, and while the truckers' drug has it's charms (I'm being
sarcastic here), and blow for your nose was almost a social requirement
at one point - they can't hold a candle to the derivatives of the poppy.
But every junkie's like a settin' sun. That phrase right there
is the coup de grace on several levels. Everybody has their own light -
talents, skills, personalities - an individual beacon that drug
addiction dims and eventually puts out. And they go out brightly as
well - burning themselves out, fighting society with their denial and
hiding their pain, refusing help. In a flaming nosedive, they
extinguish themselves.
I've made my past no secret. I and several friends have managed to
avoid that fiery crash. One of them and I have discussed this at
length, and we feel like we made it through the fire. Plus, on
the other side, we found each other and discovered why we were friends
in the first place. Our relationship is the stronger for it. We are
both in pain for those still on the other side of that fire - maybe they
just toke up a little, or they're still meth-heads, or whatever. The
divide exists because they are trapped in their delusions, and consider
us some sort of traitor or similar. They are the ones who are living
their lives the way they want, and are free because of it. We, on the
other hand, are sellouts to the man, or something. Whatever it takes to
continue consuming that drug without admitting to the logical disconnect
that they aren't free, they are in thrall to the drug and all that goes
with it - the societal dismissals by the so called upper crust plus the
acceptance by the dregs - those who use and deal, the continual lack of
money the associated problems with obtaining more to get their fix -
theft or prostitution, their poor health and so much more.
There aren't as many of the heads left anymore. They keep dying off far
faster than my clean and normal compadres.
And every time I hear Neil sing this song, all of these thoughts rush
through my head.
I remember.
Jeffro Borland
http://crazedpw.blogspot.com/
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