Editorial: We are not victims

I often hear the excuses of why meth users started, and why they do drugs at all. The reasons we tell ourselves normally involve a portrayal of ourselves as victims of this life. Victims of a reality we don’t want to face…

Because it’s too hard.

Because it’s not fair.

Because other people have it better.

Well, guess what. Life isn’t fair, and we’re not victims of a damn thing. I am a recovering meth addict, and I’ll tell you this from all my decades of experience: There is nothing anyone has done to me or failed to do for me, or will do to me that is going to stop me from making it in this world, and preparing myself for the next.

I see so many Guamanians going down the path I took, and let me just tell you: There is nothing glamorous about it. There is nothing beautiful about the prison I wasted in. There is nothing but shame involved, when your mugshot appears on the news for your children and your mother and grandmother to see. There is nothing cool about the drug life.

One of the major reasons I went full throttle into the founding of Kandit was because at its foundation is the fight against corruption. It meant a lot to me, because for years as a drug dealer, I rationalized to myself that I shouldn’t care if what I was doing was illegal, because all these government officials are corrupt. They steal, and make deals, and they screw over the community without regret.

And then I reversed the thought process.

What makes what we have done any better than what they do? We’re not victims of corruption. We’re not victims of reality. We’re not victims of our past, unless we want to be prisoners of that darkness.

Only children blame their circumstances on other people. Only babies cry, when they don’t get what they want. As free adults, we are the authors of our lives. Every choice we make belongs to us. And so it goes, that every consequence of our actions is for us to own.

No one needs to coddle us. No one needs to make the prison any nicer for us. No one needs to give us food, or hook us up with a job. No one needs to drive us to the recovery center. No one… not a single soul… owes you so much as a case of Spam, so stop acting like that.

Your parents don’t owe you a thing. In fact, the next time you see your mom, hug her and thank her for not aborting you when she had the choice. Your sister who doesn’t help you with your kids anymore because she’s had enough of your BS? Guess what? She doesn’t owe you anything either. Your friends who don’t talk to you anymore, or call you on your birthday, or bring you Christmas gifts? They did you a favor by staying away.

We owe more to this community from all the damage we’ve done to it, than anyone in the community owes us. We’re not victims. We made choices, and those choices hurt ourselves and often victimized others. If you want that to stop, and you want to begin paying back society, the only thing you can do is to be the best version of yourself the world has yet to see.

So, get up. Get off your ass. Put down the pipe. And go conquer the world. You’re not a victim. Don’t get high. Shine your light up high. You’re a star, and we believe you can make it in this world.