What are you addicted to?

(and don't think you aren't)

An inmate/student whom I once taught at the jail told me, “Mr. T., we all be addicted to somethin’ to some degree or another. Sometime it be a good thing. Sometime it be a bad thing.”

His statement has helped me often - when relaying understanding to my friends who think they’ve never once been addicted to anything in their lives. I’ve often heard such friends refer to their own addictive behavior - whatever it may be - as a “simple everyday habit”.

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Things are neither “good” nor “bad” of themselves - but rather in how we make use of them.

For instance, I have a cross necklace that another jail inmate/student once made for me as a gift. That symbol (the cross) has been used throughout history to inspire countless people to love others - in spite of their differences. That very same symbol has also been used throughout history to inspire people to condemn others - because of their differences. A cross itself is neither good nor bad of its own merit … but what we each make of it.