{"id":4735,"date":"2018-07-12T13:53:51","date_gmt":"2018-07-12T20:53:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/?p=4735"},"modified":"2018-07-12T13:53:51","modified_gmt":"2018-07-12T20:53:51","slug":"in-memory-of-chris-cornell-july-20-1964-may-18-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/2018\/07\/in-memory-of-chris-cornell-july-20-1964-may-18-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"In Memory of Chris Cornell, July 20, 1964\u2014May 18, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A very personal message from Scientologist Melissa Butz on addiction, one\u2019s own responsibility, and the loss of our favorite artists through drug abuse. Published courtesy of STAND: Scientologist Taking Action Against Discrimination.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

When my brother and I were kids, we were driving in the car with my dad one day and \u201cMe and Bobby McGee<\/a>\u201d by\u00a0Janis Joplin<\/a>\u00a0came on the radio. My very unserious dad got a little serious and said, \u201cListen to these words.\u201d We listened. He waited. Then he said, \u201cRight\u2026here\u2026did you hear that? She said harpoon and red bandana.\u201d He then explained that her harpoon was a\u00a0hypodermic needle filled with heroin<\/a>\u00a0and she used the bandana to wrap around her arm while she injected herself. Then he got stone-cold serious and said, \u201cAnd now\u2026SHE\u2019S DEAD.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Janis Joplin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

My brother and I were silent. My first thought was: how could she say that in a song and not get in trouble? Why would she tell anyone she was doing that? Needless to say, it stuck with me till this day. She isn\u2019t known by most people as a junkie who killed herself. For a musician who\u2019s music brought pleasure to so many people, her demise should not be her legacy. But what can I say? Those first impressions are a doozy<\/p>\n

Since that time,\u00a0many musicians\u2019 lives have been ended by their abuse of drugs, both the legal and illegal<\/a>. There\u2019s no way to count them all. We all wish they were still with us, creating joy with their incredible talent. As they go, we drop our heads in despair, \u201cNot another one.\u201d<\/p>\n

I always felt for those who lost their favorites. Losing Michael Jackson had a particularly strong effect on one friend of mine,\u00a0Layne Staley<\/a>\u00a0on another and\u00a0Prince<\/a>\u00a0on another friend as well. People they had come to love dearly were dying too soon. The loss was great, yet so unnecessary and wrong.<\/p>\n

Then in May 2017 I woke up one morning and saw a text on my phone from my brother. It said \u201cF&#k f&#k f&#k f&#k. This world didn\u2019t deserve him anyway.\u201d What? Didn\u2019t deserve who? I turned on my computer and there it was, shouting at me from every cyberspace rooftop in sight. My love for his music was no secret to my social media friends and the sympathy was pouring in.\u00a0Chris Cornell<\/a>\u00a0had committed suicide.<\/p>\n

This time\u2026 it was\u00a0my<\/i>\u00a0favorite.<\/p>\n

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Chris Cornell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

He was my brother\u2019s favorite too. We later spoke on the phone to console each other and try to make some sense out of it, but there was no sense to be made. Chris had left the wife and children who loved him, friends and bandmates who adored him, vocalists the world over who admired him, and fans like me who couldn\u2019t get enough of him.<\/p>\n

The radio always has tributes when a musician passes. With Chris, they went on for weeks. I had a strange reaction in that I didn\u2019t want to hear his voice at all. It was actually several months before I was interested in hearing\u00a0Soundgarden<\/a>\u00a0again. Looking back, I realize that I was a bit angry. Call me cold, callous, mean and grossly lacking in empathy, but I wished he had known better. And I wished someone like me could have made him realize that drugs would eventually kill him.<\/p>\n

Now one might argue that his death was not drug-related. The coroner didn\u2019t think so. The statement was that he had therapeutic amounts of prescription meds in his system. Looking at the laundry list of\u00a0side effects of Ativan<\/a>, just one of the drugs he had taken, I don\u2019t know how any amount could be therapeutic. But Chris had a very long history of drug and alcohol abuse. He obviously looked to these substances to help him through life. And just like so many others, it was the end of him.<\/p>\n

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Chris Cornell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

That addiction is disease is a popular approach nowadays. I even heard on a recent podcast that the person being interviewed was certain that his children would be addicts because he had passed the gene down to them. His viewpoint was that it didn\u2019t matter how he raised them; the addiction gene determined their fate. Again, here I am with my selfish, unpopular viewpoint: I think that\u2019s a disgusting and irresponsible approach to drug abuse. How much hate would you have to have for the human race to tell people that they had no way of being responsible for their own conditions?? What if my father, instead of attributing drug abuse to one\u2019s own personal choice, had told me Janis Joplin\u2019s heroin overdose was no fault of her own and that no matter what I chose, I might end up abusing drugs because some part of my body dictated it??<\/p>\n

L. Ron Hubbard<\/a>\u00a0wrote in\u00a0The Way to Happiness<\/i>, \u201cPeople mistakenly believe they \u2018feel better\u2019 or \u2018act better\u2019 or are \u2018only happy\u2019 when on drugs. This is just another delusion. Sooner or later the drugs will destroy them physically. Discourage people from taking drugs. When they are doing so, encourage them to seek help in getting off of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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