It was a Sunday morning and there was a knock on the front door of the detox. When I opened it two women in their late twenties stood there smiling at me. For a couple of long seconds they just stood there.
Something about them looked familiar, I felt like I knew them from somewhere. When I introduced myself they laughed.
One of them spoke up, “Willy don’t you remember us, you called us the “Toxic Twins” when we were here.
I took a harder look, “For the love of God, Mary, Beth, I can’t believe it!” You guys look great, what have you been up to?
They had gone to the same halfway house and when they graduated; had found an apartment, gone back to work, and were taking a couple of college courses.
They said they just wanted to drop by and say “thanks” for the help they had received from the staff during their stay some eight months previous.
“You did the work, we just made the suggestions,” I said as I stood there beaming at these two walking miracles.
I asked them to come in and visit with the rest of the staff. While they were chatting with us we learned that the AA commitment that was scheduled for that morning had cancelled out. Without skipping a beat, they asked if they could put on the commitment.
“Absolutely” all of us almost simultaneously quipped. The two of them said they would be thrilled to be able to speak about their recovery at the spot where it all began for them.
Afterwards the patients commented on what a terrific impact these speakers’ stories had made on them, particularly because they had been at this detox and they were doing so well.
They are a reminder as to why I do the work I do…
2 comments:
Good stuff! ~C
More times than not, the impact (positive or negative), that we make with one another is seldom seen. I have found that holds especially true within the recovery community, where the feeling of being of service is the ultimate internal reward that we receive.
When a person approaches for whatever reason, the doors of a detox, during their darkest hours, every person within that facility is making an impact to that individual, if we are aware of it or not. As professionals within the human services field, where the “successes” of our efforts are often obscured and the “failures” are measured by the revolving door clients, the enthusiasm by the professionals can wane overtime. We can even question to ourselves: “Is this all worth it?”
This story is perfect illustration, that yes it is all worth it!!!
More importantly, it indicates the POWER of how one’s empathic actions can be truly life changing to another and in turn transformed into a message of hope to those that can closely relate as was the case of the woman performing the “coincidental” commitment.
As I have heard on more than one occasion: “I am only in charge of my efforts, not the results.”.
The timing and results of those efforts are best left up to a POWER GREATER than myself.
Thank you for sharing the story, Willy. It is a good reminder of that statement.
Phil Cunniff
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