There’s a beautiful quote from Norman Maclean in his book, “A River Runs Through It,” that says:
“We can seldom help those closest to us. Either we don’t know what part of ourselves to give or the part we have to give is not wanted. And so, it is those that we live with and should know who elude us. But we can still love them — we can love completely without complete understanding.”
It’s a quote referred to by author J. Benjamin Bertram in his riveting life story “Reaching for the Sun” that so perfectly captures the disposition of the author in an attempt to save his younger brother Ethan from addiction and mental health.
Ethan’s plight is hardly unique. Statistics indicate that more than 50 million Americans suffer from some mental health condition, 27 million from drug abuse and 8 million from alcohol addiction. Some of those cases have been well-documented and dramatized. But most of them, while adding to the overall statistic, represent very real and difficult journeys for the struggling individuals and their families trying to handle the situation on various levels.
Bertram’s book offers a poignant description of what can happen when a family member battles his inner demons. He presents a realistic narrative of growing up on a small farm village in Nova Scotia with his parents, Ethan and sister Andrea. When Ethan starts drinking in excess in high school, does his family step in or walk on eggshells wondering whether this is typical of this age group?
Sometimes you want to deny what your eyes are telling you.
At one point, when Ethan reports to his mother that his car was broken into and his money stolen, she chalks it up to his being in a bad neighborhood.
But the exasperated author explains to his mother, “He spent the money on drugs. He’s getting high every…