Monday, October 25, 2010

another bullshit night in suck city

nick flynn spoke at the university of missouri last thursday. i picked up flynn's book 'another bullshit night in suck city' when i attended the nieman conference in boston back in 2006. it's a memoir about the author's relationship (or lack thereof) with his alcoholic father. the title originates from a common saying by his dad.

after flynn read from both of his memoirs and also a few poems, he took questions from the audience. i asked him, "considering your father's relationship with alcohol and its debilitating consequences, how does alcohol show up in your life? have you made a conscious decision to not drink?" he answered, "yea, i shouldn't drink. let's say that it doesn't take me toward the light." he asked if i was satisfied w/ his answer and i said yes. i took this to mean that he drinks, even though he knows that he probably shouldn't.

i'm not sure why people do things that they know they shouldn't do. i guess there are multiple reasons: addiction, peer pressure, habit, stupidity, depression, adventure, fun, fear and who knows what else. temptation is a dangerous side of life. but at some point i think it's simply a cost/benefit analysis. which path works best for me? are the risks worth the price? i've been doing some thinking about this lately.

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