It's Not Them

News Flash: Alcoholics Suck at Relationships!

"But it is from our twisted relations with family, friends, and society at large that many of us have suffered the most.  The primary fact that we fail to recognize is our total inability to form a true partnership with another human being."

I'm telling you that is some no-shit straight talking.  It's not possible to misinterpret the intent of the phrase"total inability."  That is a clearly articulated sentiment even for for someone as argumentative and self-satisfied as me.

But wait!  Order now and we'll say the same thing in a slightly different way!

"We have not once (Ed. Note: Not once) sought to be one in a family, to be a friend among friends, to be a worker among workers, to be a useful member of society (Ed. Note: I can hear my dad yelling "You are totally useless!").  Always we tried to struggle to the top of the heap, or to hide beneath it.  This self-centered behavior blocked a partnership relationship with any one of those about us.  Of true brotherhood we had small comprehension." 

And, of course, nothing is ever my fault . . .   I can spot a defect in someone else at a thousand yards while ignoring a defect the size of a Buick afflicting my own personal self.  It's no wonder I have trouble in my relationships when I'm perpetually finding fault in everyone else.

"Our present anxieties and troubles we cry are caused by the behavior of other people . . .   To see how erratic emotions victimized us often took a long time.  We could perceive them quickly in others, but only slowly in ourselves."

And even if someone else is to blame . . . 

"Or if my disturbance was seemingly caused by the behavior of others, why do I lack the ability to accept conditions I cannot change?"

Why, indeed.