Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: TEXTING (05/18/17)
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TITLE: TTT Treatment | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marlene Bonney
05/23/17 -
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“Welcome, Brenda,” chanted a couple dozen other attendees who were sitting in circled metal chairs in the church basement activity room.
Brenda scoured the faces of her compatriots as she listened to their confessions and stories. She shook her head, the ponytail swinging back and forth like a bushy squirrel’s tail, when asked to tell her reason for being present. The judge had given her a choice: community service at a soup kitchen, hobnobbing with the “down and out” or this TTT (Textaholics That Talk) class. This group seemed the less intimidating of the two, and she thought she could breeze through it like an Olympian. She wasn’t out of control like these others. She hadn’t even brought her cell with her this evening, while several of the others had given up their contraband at the policed door.
Zombie-like, a few other non-participants flinched when addressed, unable to interact verbally. Others displayed withdrawal symptoms in nervous finger-tapping, piano maestros gone berserk. Brenda counted five older teens wearing therapy-prescribed wrist splints to help with carpal tunnel maladies. The most serious cases had bandaged fingertips in bulky swaddling to heal their oozing blisters.
The sporadic prevailing clicking on the chair sides from these recovering addicts was distracting and she wanted to shout at them to stop—until she realized her fingers had become part of the choir.
“My name is Eric, and I was also a textaholic;” the leader stated, bringing them all to attention, “Like some of you, I also did not belong here. I refused to admit I had a problem; until my wife divorced me on the grounds of emotional abandonment. . .this is the first step toward the road to healing—admitting the addiction. Each person’s story is different in detail, but all of us have caused suffering and pain to our families and former friends. In this meeting, we will address the social implications of our disease, beginning with a speech therapy exercise.”
Like brainwashed groupies, the addicts followed Eric’s instructions. Sitting on their hands, they were to turn to the person on their left and hold a five-minute interactive conversation. Some were unable to say more than a simple sentence, while others who had been practicing throughout the week (in front of their mirrors or with fellow addicts) were sailing through the assignment like kindergarten graduates.
To Brenda, the most heart-breaking confessional was from an overweight co-ed who appeared to be shell-shocked. She had been texting while jogging in a local park. With her attention on her text buttons, she failed to see a toddling baby in her pathway. She plowed into the little one like a speeding steamroller. Although he had recovered from the severe concussion, the child was still hospitalized with a spinal injury.
Another sad tale involved Stan, a business executive texting while driving his kids to school on his way to work. He had missed the STOP sign at a busy intersection and the resulting accident left his children traumatized. The youngest, his 6-yr. old daughter, still could not willingly climb into her car seat.
Julia, a Harvard Business School prospect, had failed the spelling and grammar preliminary exams, her texting language having replaced her adolescent school learning. Drew, a high-school student, had flunked the entrance exam for a simple summer school program in preparation for college entrance tests.
“The dangers of constant misspelled words are not in an addict’s mind because he or she is mesmerized by those tiny little buttons that create phonics it takes a rocket scientist to interpret,” Eric emphasized.”
“My doctor recognized my addiction when I brought my kids in for their annual check-up,” Gloria admitted, “I was answering a text while he was giving me their evaluations. He asked me if I was ‘one of those’ mothers who sat silent at a restaurant, clicking away and oblivious to the children’s conversations. He explained that he was observing more and more youngsters who were abandoned by their parents this way.”
“What about a Higher Power? I need help with this,” from a middle-aged widow who had brought her Bible along.
“In fact, the effectiveness of this TTT program will depend on how earnestly we turn our wills and lives over to God and His power—this is Step 3,” the leader confirmed, “we cannot conquer our addiction ourselves or we would not be here. . .”
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Great job with the topic.
Well done.
Blessings~