There were many comments about what I wrote on the tabloid goddess, her rise and fall. Some were about the writing and I thank those readers.

Some were about Ms. Smith personally and some were unkind.

I believe in the "walk a mile in my shoes" way of dealing with people.

Social butterfly that I am, and being on the planet as long as I have, living in many places, I have met, and become close to many, many, people over the years.

I have sat down with senators, governors, PhD's, lawyers, pastors, doctors, teachers, cab drivers, bartenders, window washers, janitors, street urchins, hookers...

Drunks and addicts come in all shapes, sizes, professions, and walks of life.

I discovered one day, quite by accident, my best girlfriend had a serious problem with alcohol. She lived across the street, we went to school together, I was with her every day, and I didn't know she was drinking. (She is more than 25 years sober now)

We had a classmate and friend we both cared about, and still do, who was/is, a binge drinker. Over the years I have watched him go up and down life's ladder. I'm happy for him when he's on the high end, and I always hope he stays there.

I met someone else who was addicted to alcohol. I stayed around until it was too hurtful for me to watch him drink himself to death. It's a slow way to die, and it often kills others along the way. I couldn't allow his drinking to take me down with him.

Alcohol is the most insidious drug of all.

I learned more about addiction, first hand and close up, then I ever wanted to know.

Those people who pat themselves on the back and crow about how wonderful THEIR choices have been and congratulate themselves on how good and moral they are ... and who look down on those souls who are slaves to an addiction, should rather say to them selves....

There but for the grace of God go I.

"Addiction has been defined as being possible only to a psychoactive substance (for example alcohol, tobacco, or drugs), which is ingested, crosses the blood-brain barrier, and alters the natural chemical behavior of the brain. Psychology professionals and laypersons, now feel that there should be accommodation made to include psychological dependency on such things as gambling, food, sex, pornography, computers, work, exercise, cutting, and shopping / spending."

Maybe everyone, before they accuse, criticize, and abuse, should consider first, how it would feel to walk a mile in the other guys shoes?

The moral model states that addictions are the result of human weakness, and are defects of character. Those who advance this model do not accept that there is any biological basis for addiction. They often have scant sympathy for people with serious addictions, believing either that a person with greater moral strength could have the force of will to break an addiction, or that the addict demonstrated a great moral failure in the first place by starting the addiction. The moral model is widely applied to dependency on illegal substances, perhaps purely for social or political reasons, but is no longer widely considered to have any therapeutic value.

Half of all patients diagnosed as alcoholic are born into families where alcohol is used heavily, suggesting that familiar influence, genetic factors, or more likely both, play a role in the development of addiction. What also needs to be noted is that when people don't gain a sense of moderation through their development they can be just as likely, if not more, to abuse substances than people born into alcoholic families.

that which is in blue is from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.