With only two episodes left of Breaking Bad (don't worry, no spoilers), I can't help but believe that drug use is on the forefront of the minds of the pop culture collective.
For many of us, actually falling into the habitual use of a hard drug seems so foreign that it's easy to watch it on a television show and express your shock and awe at the repercussions; all the while sitting comfortably on a friend's couch, munching on Funyuns and sipping red wine from a gas station. Yes, I just described to you my night last night. However, finding someone that can say, "I was a heroin addict," is really no different than me saying, "I am addicted to cigarettes." None of us wake up one day and decide to shoot up, or smoke a pack of cigarettes. It's a slow thing. It starts with a drag of a cigarette here, a few painkillers there, falling in love with a pretty girl who likes to get high, and one day heroin is easier to get than Oxycontin.
I met John Rabon a few months ago at a comedy open mic. I have vaguely heard his name over the years, whisperings of alcohol abuse, DWIs, and the founder of one of my favorite comedy shows - Spite Club. Rabon hadn't been around for a while, though. All of a sudden he was back, sipping on Gatorade instead of a beer at comedy shows, laughing at the comics on stage and making polite conversation whenever engaged. I wanted to get to know this mysterious bad-boy-turned-good and find out what the last 10 years looked like for him. He started like the rest of us, went to college, held a comfortable office job, liked to drink, and was good at telling jokes. Then shit when in a different direction. Rabon is now finding his zen through being a dishwasher, sobriety, and talking to curious squares like me who want to know what life looks like through a heroin haze.
Come along with me while I talk to John Rabon about what it means to him to Do Good Work.
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