The Dystopian World of Addiction
Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas as an allegory for addiction and recovery
On November 5, 2016 I left Omelas, walking ahead into the darkness. And I haven’t been back. I still don’t know what my destination is, but, as is intimated in Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic short story The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, I do seem to know where I’m going — at least for the time being.
Allow me to explain. November 4, 2016 was the last time I consumed an alcoholic beverage. Many alcoholic beverages in fact. It was a weekend away from home with my wife’s rock band in a shabby hotel room in Rocky Mountain House, a decidedly tired-looking town in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. On the morning of November 5 as we were packing our belongings and getting ready for the journey back to Edmonton, I took stock of the previous evening, scanned the constellation of empty cans and bottles that lay strewn about the room, and came to a singular, inescapable conclusion — I am not capable of drinking in moderation, and I have to stop. Forever.
I left Rocky Mountain House, and in doing so I left behind the crutch of alcohol. And I have not looked back since, and have no intention of looking back.
The year-and-a-bit since my wholesale embrace of sobriety has been a period of intense introspection for me. My overall…
