Hint #72: In order to facilitate recovery (and life), one should refrain from robbing others at the meeting.

A robber who walked into the Columbia downtown Alcoholics Anonymous center, pulled out a gun and demanded money was killed in a burst of gunfire from an AA visitor’s gun, police said. “Gimme what you got,” witnesses quoted the robber as saying when he entered the AA building at 2015 College St. in Five Points about 10:48 p.m. Saturday. They said he brandished a .25-caliber handgun. At that point, as one AA visitor dropped something on the floor — possibly his wallet — another AA visitor pulled out his own pistol and shot the robber “multiple times,” police said. ~ Charlotte Observer

TDA contributor Screedler sent the following video to me today with the subject line, ‘his life may not be unmanageable yet, but it is surely embarrassing.” Even though it’s rare these days that a journalist will impress me with objective reporting or unmitigated professionalism, but this guy jumps the shark as far as journalists go and lowers the bar to a new level. He calls himself a proper news journalist in the video at the same time bragging about being drunk, biased, and plagiarizing BBC content for his “report”.

Be warned there is some foul language in the video, but probably nothing compared to what this guy said once he had sobered up and seen his performance- especially where he quit his job with an F-bomb flourish. What’s the recovery lesson here? Listen to my advice.

Columnist Samantha Brett of the Sydney Morning Herald asks for advice this week about dating someone with an addiction. With over two hundred and counting replies and comments obviously this is a topic of great interest with many speaking up about personal experiences. The responses range from logical to the ludicrous although it’s not their veracity I challenge, but instead the question itself.

As almost anyone can tell you that has watched their spouse or child fall prey to an addiction, once hooked, their loved one ceased to exist. So asking advice about dating someone with an addiction is about the equivalent of practicing pick up lines for mermaids- neither really exists. A better way to address this issue would be to ask, “are you prepared to date an addiction?”

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Regardless of the drug of choice; an addict will place total priority on feeding their disease. Everything in life is just a means to an end of satisfying this need and they will just as eagerly walk over the back of a close relationship to reach their target as they will that of a stranger. The people in these lopsided relationships with an addiction that care the most, usually hang around in relationships the longest, and tragically end up being abused the worst. Those already married or that have family suffering from an addiction have few options left, but my advice for those considering staying with or starting to date an addiction I have one word of advice.

Don’t.