My current struggle: drug addiction.
No, not with me, but how to unpack why it is "bad". I'm trying to model its impact on a city. Here in San Francisco it's a huge issue.
Community impacts:
Society's degredation?
Government cost?
Economic overhead?
Personal:
Lowered potential in career, relationships and personal goals?
Increase in depression?
General unhappiness?
Thoughts?
@jurban Recovering drug addict here. To me, the worst parts of addiction were the loss of self control, the ease with which I would debase myself, the sadness I felt knowing I was hurting those who loved me, the likelihood of me putting my parents through the mist awful grief, the wasted years of my life, the misery I inflicted on people I’d never even met… Oh, there’s more…
@Ron
Wow. Thanks for sharing.
I'm thinking that "happiness" is a fundamental need in order for us to progress in life. If we're not progressing, we're not helping the community. Then, if we care about the community (which includes family) we're even more sad about the impact we are having.
Addiction seems to hit hard on the happiness we can feel.
@jurban I personally cannot recall any “happiness.” I experienced pleasure but not happiness, no joy. I believe those are two qualities that are very important in life - lacking them led me filling their voids with immediate pleasure, instant gratification, though that is a serious stretch.
@Ron
Thanks for sharing so much.
I suspect that somewhere in the recesses of our minds the effect of drugs is sitting right next to happiness. They are too close to easily discern.
Maybe we know that we need to be happy to survive? If we cannot become happy we find that the drug gets close enough for satisfaction. But, not happiness, so we degrade.