Johnny Cash’s Drug Addition And The Effects It Had On His Family Essays

Johnny Cash’s Drug Addition And The Effects It Had On His Family Essays Johnny Cash’s Drug Addition And The Effects It Had On His Family Paper Johnny Cash’s Drug Addition And The Effects It Had On His Family Paper In Johnny Cash’s book, Cash, he describes his addition to prescription pills. It was scary to read that his addition started at such a young age, with the morphine he was given to relieve pain. His trail of thoughts ended up in thinking that this is the best thing ever. My reaction to this is rather sad and confused. Not everyone who takes morphine for pain sinks into this trail of thought. I am left wondering if this was just something in his mind, something that made him think it was more pleasurable than other people. That frame of mind seems to be what lead to the addiction. Johnny Cash seem to be ok with what he was doing, not realizing the damages he had on his family. He’d neglect his daughters and then his wife. He was being so rude just doing whatever he wanted and not really listening to those that cared for him the most. I kept thinking, if you weren’t even going to listen to the people who care about you the most, whom would he ever listen to? It would be hard to try to tell someone not to do something to himself, and just see him doing it anyway. As the time went on, it seemed that Johnny Cash didn’t realize how self-destructive he was. He wouldn’t listen to those around him and assumed he could handle it, he basically showed some weak character traits based on how he would ignore or excuse his behavior. I was amazed he could so smugly just walk away from a fire just to go fishing, not even bothering trying to put it out or tell anyone so they could put it out. He just let it all burn away without caring, and pathetically didn’t care. His family suffered with a lack of Johnny Cash being around. They wanted his attention and he ignored those pleas. I felt worried through the story or them, like I expected him to eventually listen to them. They worried and tried hard to stick by him, even when he was pushing them away. It seemed like he didn’t care. The pills were more important. It didn’t seem like he was in control at all of his emotions or had any control over how many he took. It was this destructive attitude that hurt the most to his family and caused some lasting damages. As the story progressed, and he did more dangerous things and kept getting wilder, it became clear how out of control he was. His attitude toward life and those around him were sickening. With so many people watching him, one would assume he would change his mind about what he was doing. It started to sound like it wasn’t fun any more to him to take the pills, but he kept doing it, which is rather confusing. It really seemed like it was his own inner spiritual awakening, which it was inside himself that was what he needed to see what he was doing. I think it proved the only real way to beat addition is something inside you. The outside influence of his family helped in the long run in a minor way, but it took a lot to shake the idea of what he was doing was ok. So it was some switch inside of people that might be what changes people. The destruction he did to his family is scary, though, and something no one should go through. Johnny Cash’s addiction deeply impacted his family and nearly destroyed the relationships he had created with them. To do that to your family just shows you wouldn’t care about them at all, and think about yourself the most. References Carr, P. , Cash, J. (1998) Cash: The Autobiography. 1998. HarperCollins.