I was only a little kid when my father picked up the bottle. He didn’t take it easy, he went at it full throttle. He was chugging those 40’s like he wasn’t even thinking about all the horrible memories he was making. All he cared about was the liquor, he forgot everything else. He didn’t even see the disease that was sneaking up on him, full stealth. Next thing you know he’s throwing up blood and seizing on the floor. It happened throughout the years until the man that I admired was no more. A monster took his place, controlled by the liquor. There was nothing we could do, if only we’d caught it quicker! I saw a grown man fall to his knees in pain. It leaves me wondering what I have to gain in a world full of so much sadness it can’t be contained! People try to hide from what’s real by picking up the needle, the bottle, or the pill. But no drug can mask the treachery, the absolute catastrophes that have been going on for centuries in everyday homes. It’s been going on for too long! It’s hard to stay strong when the generations before you are all singing the same song. Sometimes I just want to scream and cry, seeing all these people so young just give up and die because they can’t deal with the pain they have inside. People who give up hope and shoot up dope to mask their sorrow, people who forget that there’s always tomorrow. But tomorrow never comes for the people who give up. The emotions inside them finally erupt and decide that enough is enough. Next thing you know they put that blade to their wrist a little too rough, or they tie that rope around their neck a little too tight because they didn’t believe it was going to be alright! Please believe me when I say that even in your weakest moment, not all is lost. Your life doesn’t have to be so carelessly tossed! When it feels like the pain can’t get any stronger, or the dark can’t get any darker, don’t give up the fight. In every dark, there is light. And in every hopeless case there is a future that is bright.