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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

talking recovery



wednesday may 20, 2009 is "recovery at the capital" . it is a rally at the state capital to raise awareness of the miracle of recovery and the many people it touches.

some friends of mine are on the organizing committee and have asked me to speak. not sure what to say,(and having torn up several versions) i have settled upon the following. it is based entirely on crowd interaction, so i hope it goes well. luckily, my friends are hams, so they can pull any disaster out of the toilet.

there is a tag line this year which is " with recovery- everybody wins- the individual, the family, the workplace, the community....

Wow! My name is Rod Rushing and I am humbly and gratefully living in long term recovery. What a beautiful day! And how amazing you all look!! Recovery has indeed been a miracle in my life. You know, I have heard that "with recovery- everybody wins".. The individual wins..... hmmmm i wonder... How many people here are living in long term recovery.... ???? Do you feel like you're winning??? seems like a good fit...

The family wins..... How many of you are family members of someone living in recovery???? Would you agree that the family wins with recovery????

Next is the workplace.... Are there people with us today that work with someone that lives in recovery??? Are they good to work with???? Are they sometimes even over-achiever's???? Would you say it's a win????

Finally we have our community... The family, the street where we live, the neighborhoods, the cities, the suburbs, the rural communities, the treatment community, the LGBTQ community, the HIV community, the 12 step community, the spiritual community, the law enforcement and drug court community, the family services community, the healthcare community, the taxpayer community, the mental health community..... all these and the rest of our larger Colorado community win when recovery is there.

There is a national recovery advocate organization based out of Washington which is called FAVOR. This stands for Faces And Voices Of Recovery. They work diligently on a national level to raise awareness and identity of the miracle of recovery to state and federal lawmakers and policymakers whenever possible. They were even responsible for the introduction of the very first "recovery rooms" at a national political convention. These recovery rooms debuted right here in Colorado last August with the amazing Democratic Convention. Many of you volunteered and participated in this ground breaking event.

Additionally, here in Colorado, we are blessed to have 2 organizations doing recovery advocacy right in our midst. Advocates For Recovery and Surrounded By Recovery have been diligently making recovery more visible and viable to our local lawmakers, policymakers, and our citizens. the work in tandem with FAVOR and "we" are part of a national movement. And we need you to get involved. Sign up on the mailing lists... Volunteer to help to outreach or an event. Make this movement become stronger..September is National Recovery Month. Get a team together and join the Recovery Walk down the 16th Street Mall, raise awareness, and raise some funds to help build the 1st peer-led recovery center for our state.

As President Obama has stated: "The War On Drugs has failed"--- might I add fairly miserably.... LESS INCARCERATION.... MORE RECOVERY.... Maybe we could advocate visibly and vocally for recovery instead....

I know recovery works.... We know recovery works......Our families believe recovery works..... our workplaces and human resource departments can testify that recovery works... and hopefully our communities, our cities, and our state will embrace the idea that recovery works.....

With Recovery...... Everybody WINS!!!!


wish me luck..

today's sound has a spirit... bob dylan and joan baez with "blowin in the wind"






Documents

2 comments:

Unknown said...

your speech has wonderful cadences; you make effective use of repetition. you must have a bit of the southern preacher in you. I have no doubt that you inspired the crowd; you certainly inspire me.

Mark said...

Wonderful. Luck goody.

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