Day 43, Aug 12, Ness City, KS. Part 1.
It reached 105 degrees today upon finishing the ride about 2:30 in the afternoon after a pleasant 67 degree start and no headwinds (yeah!) I was pleasantly surprised by Rod, a reporter from Scott City, taking pictures while I was riding and then interviewing me for 20”. I appreciate these opportunities as the whole purpose of this trek is to raise awareness and gradually reduce the stigma surrounding SUD. (Anyone with national media connections - please contact me!)
Returning to the heat and headwinds though. Look at a couple of the pictures from the last couple days posted above. Today was 105 degrees and no headwind, yesterday was 98 degrees (yes, still quite hot!) and much of the day had moderate to strong headwinds. Can you tell which day was yesterday and which was today? Can you see the heat or the headwind? If you do any athletics outdoors, you know the greatly increased effort and slower progress involved with running, biking, etc into a headwind, and also how much your performance is reduced by the heat. They are real, even major and determinative factors, and yet you visually do not see them. They are “in the air” and yet invisible.
In the same way, social Stigma is “in the air” surrounding Substance Use Disorder. It conveys the message that someone suffering from SUD is either weak or morally flawed. This acts in the same way on someone wanting and needing recovery as the invisible heat and headwinds on my journey. They can also be major and determinative. It lies embedded in the institutions that intersect with them providing additional resistance to successful progress, a headwind, and handicapping their performance, like high heat. Absent it, equipping and facilitating the recovering and their families becomes the norm and the current substance addiction crisis is more successfully addressed. Much fewer deaths and less suffering result.
“The air quality” can change; there are many examples in this country. Would you help me tip the scales in that direction within your circles of influence? Headwinds are discouraging to ride in, and 105 degree heat is pretty unpleasant, but I’m just riding a stand-up bike, its not near as hard as facing both of these daily trying to navigate real life.
Addiction is a treatable brain disease that disables decision-making.
