Powerful Celebrity Rehab

Just watched an incredibly powerful "Celebrity Rehab." I have to say, i am not even sure who the celebrity was. She looked like a model...tall and pretty. I just caught the end of the episode, and I do not know if it was new, or a rerun. But, tears streamed down my face.

Dr. Drew was with this tall, pretty patient in new York City. When I tuned in, they were standing at Ground Zero, and she talked about losing her fiance on 9/11. She said she felt like no one can understand what that feels like, and then a man interrupts and talks to her because he lost his wife and niece that day. This man was married to his wife for 40 something years (47 maybe?). He talked about that morning, and I was so touched. Dr. Drew was so touched, and this patient in treatment was also touched. He said exactly what she needed to hear, just by sharing his experience with her. (That is one thing that is powerful about this blogging community, as well.) Then, she went down towards The boathouse, (maybe at Central Park?) where the addict's fiance, whom she lost on 9/11, proposed to her. She had a letter she had written him shortly after he died, that she intended to leave in his coffin, but she just could not. She looked for a place to "let it go." As the walked by a river in this park, she sees a copper plaque on the ground that reads, "For Andy (that was her fiance's name) whom I loved...." I cannot remember the exact wording. She tells Dr. Drew that she now realizes that maybe he was only supposed to be with her for that short time, and that everything happens for a reason. (Hence...higher power things here, recovery realizations here...) She goes alone to the banks of this river, and reads the letter she has not even been able to read since she wrote it ten years ago. She rolls it up, and puts it in a bottle, releasing it to the water. Powerful.

And it really strikes home with me because of Katrina. All the people that we lost during the storm, all the people we lost during 9/11...all the families of all those people, and I wonder how many of the survivors struggle with addiction. It is a way to cope. These massive, horrible tragedies are etched forever in our minds...even in the minds of people who really have no personal connection to the places, or events, people whose only connection to these events is the fact they are American...and it happened her...the events of the Hurricane, and the events of 9/11, and the events of Columbine,the Arizona tragedy, Virginia Tech, the earthquake in Haiti, the tsunami in the Far East...I could go on and on...all those people have family, and all this tragedy...it takes a toll. I know it took a toll on me for quite some time. I think about substance abuse because of trauma. It happens. A lot. I cannot really claim that because I was an addict before the tragedies I experienced in Katrina...but, I am no longer an addict, and that has much to do with Katrina. Events like these are so powerful.