I am humbled and proud to have a piece in the Washington Post. And, while it is an honor, I hate that this story had to be written. However, I wholeheartedly believe that it did.
My brother didn’t make the best choices, but that doesn’t mean that he wasn’t mannerly and kind, it doesn’t mean that he didn’t give the best hugs and it certainly doesn’t mean that he deserved to die because of blatant indifference and a shocking lack of empathy by those who claim to “protect AND serve”.
There is nothing that I can do to change what happened. I have found that the only path forward for me is to practice radical empathy and grant extreme grace whenever possible. Is it always easy? Hell no! I get my feelings hurt. I can be petty and stubborn and pig-headed. And, this doesn’t mean that I don’t have to have boundaries. I do.
But, I do know that when I let go of the hatred and bitterness that I held for so many, myself included, I started living a richer, happier life.
Thank you for all of your support.
My Washington Post Article:
10 years ago my brother reached out from addiction. I wish I could go back and take his hand.
Soshally Awkward
Sosha Lewis is a writer whose work has been featured in The Washington Post, Huffington Post, MUTHA Magazine and The Charlotte Observer. She writes about her sometimes wild, sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking past filled with free-lunches, a grimy sports bar, a six foot tall Albino woman who tried to save her teenage soul, felonious, drug addicted parents, an imaginary friend named Blueberry and growing up nestled in the coal-dusted mountains of West Virginia.
