VICTORY IN RECOVERY

So on October 27^th, 1998 I decided I will send a letter to the President of the United States, President William Jefferson Clinton, and have someone with authority help me sort through this mess because I was surely not going to use any drug behind this dilemma.  In my letter to the President I said:  Dear Mr. President:  It is with intense emotional and financial discomfort that I write you this letter, with the hope that you will advise me or direct this letter to the appropriate arm of government to advise and or help me.  I am a homeless recovering addict, for one month now – having completed treatment in a therapeutic community on September 19^th.   As a prerequisite, all graduates should have established a housing condition to be able to move into upon graduation.  It was stated emphatically and categorically to all residents at the BASICS therapeutic community where I was treated between October 1997 and September 1998 that affordable housing will be offered to all successful graduates for at least one year.  Incidentally “Section VII” of New York City Housing Authority has been closed to us effectively from June 1998.  It is now upon us to find our own housing.  Unfortunately, I am not one of the few who were lucky to receive such assistance.  I am currently being lodged at my sister’s 2- bedroom apartment which accommodates five adults including myself.  Such conditions are very uncomfortable and substandard.  Compounding my situation further, I am attending full-time college at the New York City Technical College and can only find part time work which does not allow me to defray all expenses that will be incurred, especially with such astronomical housing costs.  Returning to Society’s main stream, it is my endeavor to give back in a positive, productive and dutiful manner.  With all due respect, I hereby seek the Executive Government’s direction since the local bureaucracy claims it is the Federal Government to be blamed.  Maybe, the Urban Development Housing can be of assistance to alleviate this problem which I and other graduates are faced with.  Anxiously, I await your response.  Thanking you in anticipation.  Sincerely, Rene John Archer.

When I dropped this letter in the mail I was experiencing indifference in my sister’s behavior.  She was not telling me that I have to go but she was obviously concerned about me staying there indefinitely.  She began to make suggestions to me and recommendations about places and people who had rooms which I can rent.  I began my apartment hunting and was not finding anything appropriate and affordable for me and frustration began to step in.  I was feeling that my foundation was gradually being removed from beneath me and had feared a relapse and subsequent homelessness.  I prayed on that letter after I sent it off and just patiently awaited a response. 

I had already written to one President before that being President Ronald Reagan and had received some assistance and guidance.  Now, began the test again.  Everyone told me that I was out of order for writing the President.  They said things like this to me: You just do not write the President just because you have a housing problem?  To me it was more than a housing problem.  I wanted to give back so much to the society and anything that was not enabling me to do so was disturbing.  I had no time to waste or no space to entertain discomfort.  There were too many negative flash backs and situations that kept popping up in my mind.   My equilibrium was again threatened.  Maintenance was becoming increasingly difficult and stressful.  My thoughts began to run wild.  There were no financial obligations while I remained at my sister because she was allowing me to save enough money to move.