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| Image from www.imdb.com |
adness
washed over the entertainment world a few weeks ago when Cory Monteith was
found dead in his Vancouver hotel room. Monteith was a beloved actor on the hit
show Glee and had recently opened up in 2011 about his struggle with substance
abuse. He had worked through some rehab programs and to onlookers it appeared
as if he was getting his life back together. Unfortunately, the toxicology
report produced after Monteith’s autopsy reveals a different man
altogether. The toxicity report produced
by the British Columbia Coroner’s Office confirms that Monteith died from a
“mixed drug toxicity that involved heroin, primarily, and also alcohol.” Sadly,
this report suggests that something sinister was actually still at play within
Monteith’s own heart – perhaps he wasn’t quite the happily recovered person he presented
to the public.
I
in no way want to tarnish Monteith’s reputation and I definitely don’t think he
deserves harsh critique for the actions leading to his death. If anything, I
think his family deserves compassion and comfort for a life lost too soon.
That
being said, I can’t help but reflect on how Monteith’s tragic death gives us a
window into the universal inclinations of human souls. Even the day of
Monteith’s death, friends reported him as being in high spirits and appearing
as if everything was going fine. However, lurking beneath the happy-go-lucky
exterior was a life-sapping addiction. He had tried to rid himself of it, but
it was still there.
I
wonder how many of us can relate to this same picture of “human-ness.” Maybe
it’s not a drug addiction, but how many of us have an intuitive awareness that
something within us is out of whack? It could be an obsession with pleasure
(i.e. sex, pornography, etc.), it could be a preoccupation with recognition
(i.e. pride, position in the workforce, being “noticed”, etc.) or any host of
other things. If you’re a Christian, you’ve probably been told that all of those
things need to be “set aside” or “put-off.” But, no matter how hard you try,
you find that those particular issues keep coming back into your life and
negatively impacting yourself, your family, or your friends.
Well,
let me suggest to you that these battles aren’t won through internal resistance.
It seems like Monteith started the growth process well by including other
people, but somewhere along the way stopped being honest with those same people.
Maybe you’ve started the growth process well too, but gave up after you saw the
addiction persisting. Maybe you’ve relinquished the loving, encouraging
environment of others for a dogged, internal battle against that frustrating
flaw.
NEWSFLASH:
You truly can’t muscle your way out of the wily jaws of addiction by yourself. In
fact, you were never supposed to.
Believe
it or not, human beings were really
created for relationships. Missing this reality is the great tragedy of
silence.
Humans
have this natural tendency to hide away. We’d rather keep our “issues” hidden
beneath layers of happy faces and fake smiles. We fear judgment and
condemnation so we hide and cover. The very thing we need most to change (i.e.
community), we innately resist. Well, let me tell you. This approach never
accomplishes anything positive and always ends tragically. It may not end in
your physical death, but it most certainly will end with discouragement and
frustration in your spiritual life.
You
need compassionate attention. You need strong arms to hold you. You need gentle
hands to comfort you. You need a discerning mind to correct you. You need a
careful tongue to remind you of grace and truth.
You
need people.
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