Mike-

Like Little Darwin, I never did business with you, but I still felt hurt and upset seeing seeing the community hurt. I always thought that what happened with you here in the C&V forum didn't add up. You seemed like such a cool guy. It just didn't make sense. But what you say now does make sense.

I work in the substance abuse field, so I have the tiniest inkling of what you're talking about. Addiction is a severe and life threatening illness, not a moral failure. I'm familiar with the brain science of addiction, and with meth in particular. At some point, it wasn't you making the decisions any more. That's the horror of addiction.

Just being in charge of your day to day decision making again is a major accomplishment. Stay strong, man. I don't know what else to do, so I'll pray my agnostic prayer for you. And please, please, please get lots of sources of help and stay far away from people who deal and use.

While I still think you should pay people their money back if you ever can, if you had fallen into a coma, or had been diagnosed with advanced cancer and spent a year in the hospital, no one would still be thinking about their fifty bucks. They would be glad that you were alive.

That's certainly how I feel.

On the other hand, you might think about whether it's a good idea to try to re-start your business with people in this forum right away. Take some time to re-build your relationships. And I, for one, would not be offended if you posted in this thread periodically to update us on your recovery.

You're brave to be honest with us. Welcome back to the living, Mike, and to the community.

Eric