A Tale of Arrogance- A guest post

One day back in 1996 or so, four of us got together for lunch. And not long ago, it dawned on me how arrogant the four of us were. One was the maintenance supervisor at a huge apartment complex in a large Ohio city. Another was a foreman at his brother's construction company. One ran the loading dock at a fruit and vegetable wholesaler, and me, I was a hot shot autobody repairman. A pretty tight bunch of characters, Smug and arrogant in our junkiness, each feeling superior in his own right. 

Back to the real matter at hand. 17 years ago, I was a heroin user of the 1st degree. Not realizing I had much of a problem, I would rationalize that by telling myself I was doing alright, I even worked 2 jobs (had to pay for it somehow, right?), so how could I have a problem? And in my arrogance, I would look askance at those boosters, hookers, and petty thieves who supported their habits in such ways. I, of course, was better than them. Yeah. A lot of stuff came back to me today, and I'm afraid if I don't write it down I may forget it all again. Bounced checks? No problem. Just write small ones and most businesses would not bother with them. Bank account closed? Move on to the next bank. A thousand dollars worth of new parts not needed to repair that brand new wrecked vehicle? Sneak 'em out the back and put them in the trunk. Parts departments will buy them back from you. Turning in your hours to payroll? They don't check too close, they will never notice they have paid you 3 times to work on a car that's not even at the shop any more. Don't have any quarters for the good ol' pay phone? Dig through the customer's cars, they usually yielded up enough for lunch too. Lost your license and your tags to the state? Customer tags will do, after all one size fits all models. Almost went to jail over that once. Had my car impounded and had to sneak into the lot and steal the customer's tags back. Broke and sick? I still had grandpa's shotgun, somehow. Let's head over to the gas station and make a withdrawal! Nah, better unload that damn gun, cuz if YOU shoot someone, you will get the chair. If THEY shoot YOU, they will get a medal. Yep, you bet, I was better than everyone. I had no problem.....and the friends at the beginning of this tale? Within a 2 year period, 3 of them died. One died from AIDS, another (heroin dealer) was found beaten to death in his house, and the third, he fell asleep driving while trying to get off Methadone. Thankfully, my arrogance died somewhere along the way too.

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