"The image of drug addicts and alcoholics now is ugly and crude. We become so judgmental because of the pure lack of experience."
DALLAS, TX, July 01, 2022 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Alcohol addiction sometimes seems less dangerous to us because of how frivolously our society treats drinking. For Carly Clark, whose parents are both recovering alcoholics and who spent her childhood attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings with them, this is a troubling fact.
In the essay that won her the Randall B. Isenberg Alcohol Addiction Awareness Scholarship, Clark mentions her struggles understanding how other kids' parents could so easily drink at dinner or at parties.
"When at a friends' house, I thought it was odd for the adults to be drinkers," she writes. If those adults could stop drinking before it became a problem, why not the ones she met with every week and whose harrowing stories she heard?
"For a long time I couldn't understand the addiction part of it," writes Clark. Tragically, this changed when her sister passed away due to heroin usage. "She had been staying with us for a while trying to get sober and was doing so well, until she wasn't."
The death of her sister caused Carly Clark to reflect on addiction and its nature as a disease rather than a choice. Once it has its hooks in you, she realized, it doesn't let go easily. This lesson was echoed as she learned more about her family's past. Her parents had each lived difficult lives before her birth, with her mother losing custody of her children.
Now, however, her parents have successfully built a life for themselves and Carly. They own their own home, have two new cars, and have stayed sober. Their transformation made Clark realize that addiction is a double-edged sword.
"The image of drug addicts and alcoholics now is ugly and crude. We become so judgmental because of the pure lack of experience," she writes. By bringing her own story into the public eye, Clark hopes to increase awareness and help transform the way our society thinks about addiction and addicts. More compassion will pave the way for better care and brighter futures.
Carly Clark will attend Clark College this fall.
About The Law Offices of Randall B. Isenberg
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the Law Offices of Randall B. Isenberg handles criminal defense cases. In his time as a defense attorney, Randall Isenberg has seen firsthand the effects of addiction and alcoholism, representing clients in DWI cases and cases for intoxicated assault. By offering the Alcohol Addiction Awareness Scholarship, the firm rewards members of the next generation who understand the nuances of addiction and seek to improve our world.
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