“R.I.P., Amy Winehouse”

Over the weekend, news struck of the death of British singer Amy Winehouse at the tragically young age of twenty-seven. Though it hasn’t been officially confirmed as far as I know, I’m pretty sure she died from a drug overdose. To anyone familiar with this artist’s life, I don’t think we need official confirmation about that. Her struggles with substances were well-known and one of her most popular songs was about refusing to get clean.

After the news hit, I watched my social network connections and participated in a lot of the conversations about her death. There were a few haters out there, and a few conversations about the haters, too. Those were the ones I paid the most attention to. One comment in particular that sticks out in my mind was a very judgmental poster who wrote that addiction isn’t a disease, it’s a choice; that he was able to get himself off of drugs and that anyone who chooses to stay on them deserves the consequences, even if it means they die. Basically, he was saying she deserved to die and good riddance.

Maybe I’m being harsh in summarizing this poster’s comment, but it was a pretty harsh comment and I don’t see the need to beat around the bush about it. I didn’t smack him down, didn’t judge his judgmental words, I just wrote about how ironic it is that when someone gets themselves off of drugs without help, they tend to be even more judgmental towards the people who are still hooked. You’d think they’d be thanking their lucky stars that they were able to get off the stuff, but instead of gratitude, they are filled with animosity. This is what we refer to in the program as, “sobriety without Recovery.”

I was never into Winehouse’s music, but I’d listen to her songs when they came on. I even have a little hope that, because of her untimely death, she might be better remembered. That’s how these things tend to go. Regardless, the Disease has claimed another one of us.

Winehouse isn’t the first artist to die from a drug overdose and she definitely won’t be the last. Use and abuse of drugs goes hand-in-hand for all artists, and musicians especially. I’ve been there, myself, obviously. Yes, I am saddened by her passing, but at times like this I remember one of the most sobering slogans to be passed around the rooms of Recovery, something my sponsor first told me when my very first sponsee committed suicide--that some must die so that others may live.

Requiescat in pace, Amy Winehouse. God rest your weary soul.