The first day of the workweek has come and gone. I got my work done. I tried to make the best choices I could. At the end of the day, I always have questions. When the books are closed on the workday, I always have doubts. Still, I do our best and I hope I have come to a just outcome.
When I first took this position my initial supervisor told me, “Don’t be petty and don’t be cavalier; these are peoples’ lives we are dealing with”. He also told me not to be impressed by clothing or put off by virtually illiterate vocal patterns. He told me the key was to look and see what each person had done to build a wall against a relapse to drug and alcohol use.
Every day I’m trying to live by those words. Today showed me the truth of that. The person I saw at 3 PM was a person with maybe a ninth grade education. He was struggling but he was holding down a job at a machine shop. More importantly he knew what he needed to stay away from a relapse. He had people in place to hold him accountable. He had a sober group to hold him accountable.
On the other hand my 4 o’clock had all the right paperwork and said all the right things, but when you dug into it you found that he had no depth to his commitment. He still had the same friends. He still went to the same places and he had never taken a course about avoiding a relapse. He talked real fine but his words were hollow. Eventually the issue of the inconvenience of not having a license became the chief topic of conversation. He isn’t ready yet.
I don’t always make the right decision. But some people make my choice easier. If you are not committed to change then I can’t do anything for you.
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