Authentically Yours

Authentically yours
“What virtue do you want to discuss?” I asked the group.

“Authenticity,” Julie said. “Being just who you are.” She looked at James and smiled. “Saying just what you’re thinking.”

The group talked about the advantages of being authentic. Liam argued being authentic didn’t always mean saying just what you were thinking, that doing so could be cruel. Relapse Boy argued that booze made you more authentic because you said what you truly thought.

I disagreed. “The things I say when I’m drunk may tell you what I’m really thinking, but they don’t tell you who I really am. I may authentically be too kind to say certain things. Besides, you don’t know if what I say when I’m drunk is really what I think. Chemicals alter your perceptions. People do and say things while they’re using drugs they would never do or say when they were clean and sober.” Relapse Boy looked away. I decided to ask him away from the group what was eating him.

To be truly authentic today, I will stay clean and sober.