3/8/2006
May I have your attention...
A writer who commented on yesterday's chapter was highly critical of my attitude toward ADD and wrote that this was, something I obviously knew nothing about. The rebuttal was eloquent, and the writer made some very good points, although I have to take issue with a couple of them.
It's definitely true that many artists, composers and writers have "medicated themselves" with alcohol and drugs and have still created great art. But it is my understanding, from the creators I have studied and those I have known personally, that their art was created for the most part with clear heads and that their alcohol and drug use fell into the category of diversion. There have been many great novelists who were drunks, but they did not write their novels while drunk.
I also have to take issue with the claim that I know absolutely nothing about attention deficit. In the 1950s, long before anyone had dreamed of ADD, I was a classic case, a child so inattentive in school that my teachers described me as nearly comatose. Those teachers had no patience for this behavior; I received failing grades, was left back. To this day, I must struggle to concentrate on what people tell me, even in brief, one-on-one conversations. If I drive to the market to buy milk and bread, I must have a list with me on which is written "milk, bread," or I will return with roasted peppers and lag bolts. I can't speak to groups without notes. When I do, I forget what I've said, what I'm going to say, and even why I am there.
I have no intention to take medication to help me focus better, however. It's true that I often live in my own world, but that is the place where my ideas are made, and the last thing I want to do is to shut it down.
