By: Marc McMahon

We are mistaken by most, understood by few, and were found by the lost. We are without dicipline and the satisfaction of self-was our only cause. We cared for nothing other than to quench the fiery thirst that burned deep inside our souls. To live or to die was of no concern we feared not death, we embraced it. We are survivors who have seen the best that evil has in its bag of tricks and we prevailed! We have cheated death, been spared for a purpose, and have joined together as a band of Brothers and Sisters linked by tragedy, heartache, and chaos. Our universal language, pain. We know it like few others do.

We have been trained by the best that money can buy, our teacher..... life. Our degrees......Masters!  Our graduating institutions are not of the educational variety mind you.  Degrees hail from Grand institutions some going back to near the turn of the century.  Institutions with Great names such as Angola, or Alcatraz. Sing Sing or the legendary Attica. Places with great halls like Western State Mental Hospital, or Waverly Hills Sanitorium, How about the fabulous education offered by Danvers Lunatic Asylum in Danvers MA.

We studied our chosen education of demise wholeheartedly. Most of the degrees our people have were not earned in two, four, or six years. Most of these folks have dedicated the majority of their lives learning what they know and some have taken their education so seriously that it cost them their lives. Ya, serious students there! So what are we here for? What is this cause we must have? Who the hell  do we claim to be you might be you might be thinking. All good questions which I shall try and explain.

Our Cause

Is to grand to explain in one article, generally speaking, though to change the damn world for the better! To eradicate addiction from the planet by helping one still suffering addict at a time. We are fierce in our pursuit of our fallen comrades and will stop at nothing to get them out of the darkness and back into the light. All we require is that they have the desire to do so. For one cannot want another's change for them! Well, you can and I suppose the young, still yet naive' for lack of better words may still try. But time and heartache will teach wisdom to them regarding the issue as it has to myself and many others over the years.

We fight with weapons not yet seen by the masses and have only recently started being used at all. Even that though is very minimal. Our weapons although difficult to cultivate and awkward at first to master have no defense. They cannot be stopped, they are as effective as the word of God which always gets done what it sets out to do. Always! A few of the weapons in our arsenal but definately not limited to are.

A couple of my personal favorites are the multi faceted Surface to Air Missles of Understanding we use to thwart incoming airborne attacks. Or how about the stigma busting power of the Mk-19 Grenade of compassion and common sense. Or are standard issue addiction slayer. The Heckler & Koch HK416 Assault Rifle of Love used to make sure addiction cannot stop us from spreading our message of Healing, Hope, and Love to all who care to receive it. To let people know that no matter how grim things look, how dark your current day seems to be, that it is simply going to be ok and that we are here for them.

So that they know that we know of the secret special room satan has for those of us who suffer from his hellish disease and that we to made it out alive. That they no longer have to live in or with the guilt and shame from ever having had to go there in the first place. To let them know that we truly understand it was not their fault that they could not beat this thing alone. That none of us could, until now! And that is what we are here fighting to share. All of what I mentioned above along with how the hell we did it.

We Do Recover

We did it, are doing it and you can do it too. Let us love you until you can love yourself. We share stories of hope and inspiration. Of experience and Strength, of past heartaches and current failures all in our pursuit of something better. Failure though I like to think of as a thing of the past, to be honest with you though. Because you truly have not failed in my opinion if you were truly reaching for something just a little bit higher than you normally would.  Thats, not failure that is the pursuit of happiness and how dreams get fulfilled.

We are Warriors in every sense of the word who want nothing more than to support you in any way we can in your recovery. We can be found all over the internet. We fight in many forms, we are to name a few writers and bloggers, advocates and counselors, online support group creators and members. We fly gang hashtags like #RecoveryIsPossible& #WeDoRecover, we through out tags like #StigmaFighters, and my personal favorite Twitterland hashtag #RecoveryPosse! Now there is a crew of Soldiers hell bent on supporting each other and I Proudly call them my Peeps :)!

Won't you join us? You don't even have to tell us your around just find us online and hang out and observe. See what we talk about, see if we hold true to form, see if we are what we claim to be........Dare Ya because my friends you gotta remember one very important thing......................

"Alone We Don't Stand A Chance, But Together, We Can Change The World!"

About the Author: Marc is a 48-year-old Author, Speaker, and Soldier in a war to loosen the grasp that Substance Abuse has on our society. He is a Father, Son, and friend to all those seeking refuge from this incorrigible disease. Marc resides in the beautiful Pacific Northwest where he enjoys, writing, hiking, and kicking the disease of addiction in the teeth, every chance he gets. As Marc always likes to say, “be blessed, my friends!”