An Apology to Oxy Addicts

Dear Afflicted,

This is an apology. I owe you this because I judged you and I failed you. I didn’t put myself in your shoes. I didn’t understand your pain. I didn’t understand your need for OxyContin or Percocet, your desperation for relief, until I experienced it for myself. I am sorry. I will no longer quietly ignore you, judge you, or empathize in a remote background. Now I sympathize with you front and center and doubled over in the anguish I failed to understand.

I’ve always considered myself a healthy guy with a normal tolerance for pain. My doctor says I’m “in enviable health” and I work at it with great diligence. I don’t eat refined sugar, processed carbs or corn syrup, I rarely drink alcohol (a glass of Prosecco a few times a year) (maybe), no drugs, I never smoked, I only drink spring water and the occasional herbal tea — no coffee, soda, fruit juice, or milk. I practice yoga and isometrics daily and I alternate between cardio, weights, and meditation throughout the week. I enjoy my “forest bath” walks in the woods. I’m 5’9”, weigh 165 and have a BMI of 17.

I’ve been through normal-life pains, like stitches on my legs and hands from nasty cuts, I had a gruesome periodontal graft as a twelve-year-old, wisdom teeth extractions, some bee stings. Fairly normal and utterly survivable experiences.