Getting Old Makes Cassandras of Us All

We can predict the future, but no one will believe us

In Greek mythology, Cassandra was a Trojan priestess. To win her love, Apollo gave her the ability to see the future. When she still rejected his overtures, he became angry, and, finding that he could not revoke the gift, he cursed her so that no matter how true her prophecies, no one would ever believe her.

Aging, particularly aging in recovery, makes Cassandras of us all. We can see younger people — sometimes family, sometimes people in the recovery community — taking roads that we have traveled. We attempt to tell them where the road leads, but they cannot believe us.

I had a sponsor named Roger. I was practicing law and Roger was a retired lawyer. I went to Roger one day and said to him, “Roger, I am suffering financial insecurity. I am worried that my law practice will fail, I will go bankrupt, and I will let everybody down. What should I do?”

Roger said, “Orrin, go to work every morning. There is always work to do in the office, even when you don’t have clients. Practice law to the best of your ability. Be honest and do our program. The money will take care of itself.”

I thanked Roger for his advice and decided that going to him had been a complete waste of time. He was a crazy old…