The first few (all but the last 2, which I discuss below) are certainly lies, no doubt. Totally agree. Except that the “treat others as you wish to be treated” does not mean that they will treat you back the same way. Maybe they don’t follow these principles, or they do, but they’re a masochist or enjoy degradation, and as such will treat you in a degrading way, because that’s how they want to be treated.
Who the hell told you the last one? Christmas has always been about family get togethers. That doesn’t mean there will be love. Parts of my extended family hate each other. So definitely not about love.
On the “Drugs are bad” one. I’ve met multiple people that have used them. I’ve met some men that have smoked weed together. It did not affect them or their life, for better or worse. I’ve met a young woman, who has taken various drugs and did not get addicted, and was also still a mentally stable, normal person. Her life was not affected, for better or worse. There are 2 young men I knew have smoked weed. One of them is now quite successful, not affected by drugs neither positively or negatively, but the other one was affected and from what I hear, is now a failure. There is also another man. He got into gangs, was doing drugs. His life was seriously affected by narcotics. But he got out. He now has a family and is doing quite well, he recently got a college education and is going to university in September. He has a wife and a lot of kids. Why does he have a pretty successful life now? Because he got out, and is now catching up on the many years he lost. He lost over 10 years of his life, or so I hear. I haven’t asked him about it, but there is no question: he’s a great person now. I didn’t want to tell you stories of people that failed, but people that were and were not affected. For all but one of these people, I’m confident they either are or will become successful. The one that is still there, I don’t know if he will be able to get out, but I certainly hope so. Overall, I have had the luck of meeting only people that overcame the possibility of addiction and are clean. However, there are far too many people I have not met, who are simply still addicted and might never be able to improve their lives. I will not risk becoming one of them, another statistic. Why would you? Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
