Addled essence

Contorting the transition from child to adult, intoxicants prevent humans from becoming their essential selves, leaving instead a muddled shell of exploitable potential. Whenever heartfelt passions are deemed inappropriate, and their expression results in abuse and censure, the inclination towards suppression leaves one especially vulnerable to the emotional distance afforded by inebriation.

Outward displays of affection and empathy violate one of the supposed virtues of adulthood; the impartial, detached appraisal of interpersonal relations deemed vital to the rites and rituals of acquisition. Worse still, if one exhibits emotional attributes regarded as incongruent with an assigned role; the rendered judgment often implies not mere immaturity, but a deviant depravity.

The castigation that accompanies these perceived infractions of social convention may be exceptionally damaging when applied to adolescents; in striving to refashion their identity, the tenuous foundation of self worth leaves an acute vulnerability to criticism. Overwhelmed by the cascade of new responsibilities and obligations, besieged by alterations of form and physiology, battling internal and external conflicts; the need for an expeditious resolution to such troubles bears down with excruciation force. Thus, the temptation of chemical desensitization coupled with the economic incentive inherent in suppling such emotional obscuration lead many to the realm of synthetic negation.

Here, obliviating pain and contention denotes maturity; transitory annihilation of unique attributes and viewpoints serves the public welfare. The bogus comradery assumed by a shared burden of intoxication, coupled with the repression of genuine sentiment, lead to spurious conformity; baseless and debasing. Fleeting moments of fellowship couple with unremitting self reproach; feigned kinship dissolves into isolated contempt, furthering the schism between public and private self.

The void created by a desecrated spirit tears into the fabric of being, demanding ever larger amounts of dissolution to cloak the cavernous interior. When the hole has become more than the sum of its parts, the person implodes; suicide- intentional or by default. Standing at the edge of the chasm, spectators and specters mumble about incomprehensibilities behind their veils of imperceptibility.

Another muddled soul; the mystery invokes the customary denouncements that blinker the public from self reflection and culpability.

Another muddled soul, the prey of poison on an addled essence.