One of the comments made was that there was a possibility that my posts could be encouraging drug use and wild behaviour in teens. It was something that validated a fear I have always had when I write.
It's a hard thing to deal with. I try not to glamorize the life I led, but I don't want to take away from the reality of the events by trying to put a lesson in each post. Personally I think that would ruin them. I don't think the person who made the comment would want me to do that either.
I remember very clearly reading the book "Go Ask Alice" when I was about 17. "It started when she was served a soft drink laced with LSD in a dangerous party game. Within months, she was hooked, trapped in a downward spiral that took her from her comfortable home and loving family to the mean streets of an unforgiving city. It was a journey that would rob her of her innocence, her youth -- and ultimately her life."
It had a profound effect on me, but not in the way you would think. I wanted to be the young girl in the book. I wanted to be lost in her world and escape who I was. I wanted to punish those that had hurt me. Although at that time I was not conscious of it, I think I thought that if I became a drug addict, it would hurt those people, make them notice me and give me the attention I craved.
God how stupid, naive and confused I was.
So I am not really sure what the solution is. A lot of what I did was destructive, and not behaviour I would encourage. But a lot of it was damn fun too. I just hope my readers are mature enough to tell the difference.
3 comments:
Readers have to take responsibility for what they take away from what they read. An honestly written memoir could inspire, but not incite. When I was a teen, The Electric Cool Aid Acid Test was the book that really piqued my interest in psychedelics and 60's subculture (in the late 80's). During my late teens and early 20's, I probably took a few too many trips, but I don't blame Tom Wolfe. Your only responsibility in your writing is to write what is true to you. People will take it how they take it.
What Jason said. I loved the 1986 film, "Sid and Nancy" when I was a teenager but it never caused me to do drugs or stab anybody. I just thought Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen were "teh awesomest", ha.
Go Ask Alice had the same effect on me! It made me want to be a stoner chick! Funny it affected you the same way.
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