Let Me Come With You

There’s an episode of MASH in which Hawkeye decides maybe he’s drinking too much (gosh, ya think?) and decides he’s going to quit for one week, just to prove to himself that he can. Toward the end of that week, there’s a particularly rough day in surgery- 16 hours straight, up to the elbows in blood and guts and tears and death. By the end, everyone’s demolished, physically and emotionally. Especially emotionally. So at the end of the shift, all the primary characters- Hawkeye, BJ, Colonel Potter, Major Winchester, Major Hulahan, and Klinger- go to the officers club to unwind, and they all order bourbon, even Hawkeye. And everyone says, “Hey Hawk, thought you were on the wagon?” 
He says, “Leave me alone, I NEED this drink!” 
They all seem a little disappointed, but say something like, “Well, there is that…” 
But then Hawkeye says, “You know what- no. I’m not giving up. I’m out. I’m gonna go to the mess tent and have some coffee.” 
Potter says, “Good for you, son.” And they all nod approvingly as Hawkeye walks out, alone.
Did you catch that last word? Just in case you missed it, it was alone.
ALONE. 
Notice that not one of them said, “You know what Hawk, I could use some coffee too- let me come with you.” 
If one of them had, can you imagine the difference it would have made for him?
Because think about this: at a time when he was emotionally devastated, and needed support as much as ever, his best friends- what amounted to his entire support network- left him to face his demons alone. 
Alone.
For many people, this is one of the hardest parts of quitting- the fear that you will have to face everything alone. You’re already giving up your coping-mechanism-of-choice, and then on top of that, you may have to give up all or at least a significant part of your support network. And that is, I think, scarier and harder than giving up the actual drinking.
Now, back to our friends at MASH: did they do anything wrong, per se? No, not really, they just wanted to have a drink and unwind- nothing wrong with that. But there are times, I believe, when we have the opportunity to do more than just “not do anything wrong.”
When we have the opportunity to do something right. 
When we have the opportunity to be there for a friend. 
Maybe you can be the one who says, “You know what Hawk, I could use some coffee too- let me come with you” and chooses to be there for a friend when they need somebody. 
Can you imagine the difference you could make for them?