This is great fun, and in the interests of good taste, you should be able to read this article at work.  Okay perhaps what is fun is great for one person, but another person has to deal with a lot of shame and guilt after the experience.  I think you know where I am heading with this.  But I wonder, or perhaps I digress, because other addictions deal with someone who is supplying something to some other person who is a consumer and is in essence breaking the law.  With this addiction, the person themselves is that product, that addictive substance, to that other individual, and there may or may not be anything lawless about the exchange.  In fact, because we do not take this seriously, we see no harm in enabling individuals that more or less, have a serious problem, and clearly need to experience some rejection in order to help themselves.

Then why do we continue to do this “thing” with them then?  On a certain level, it makes us feel good about ourselves as well.  Unlike other addictions, where the person is annoying to be around once that high has worn off, with this people are fun to be with as long as they are in the depths of their problem.  This is where the issues begin.  Like take for example certain visual materials that are supposed to get my in the mood.  As long as my needs are being taken care of elsewhere, I have no use for those materials.  Sure I may try to take a glance occasionally, but I just cannot get into it.  On the other hand, if I am lacking, that material seems really good and I cannot consume enough of it.

By now I am sure that we have all heard of what happened to Eric Benet, which so many of us men were upset with when his infidelity destroyed his relationship with who many still believe to be the most beautiful woman in the world.  He said that he had an addiction, and I tend to believe him.  Even though you can have the most beautiful woman in the world, and she can be extremely boring and you may start to look elsewhere most men would just put up with it because they feel that you are the most beautiful woman in the world.  This guy, no, he has to get caught and suffer the embarrassment of having cheated on the most beautiful woman in the world.  People want to know what he was thinking, I know exactly what he was thinking.  What everyone else who gets caught up in the rush of infidelity does; he was not thinking clearly enough.

If anything whatever led up to the decisions he made conveniently threw out the risk of the embarrassment he was about to suffer when the world learned of his “problem”.  See in our society, once an addict, always an addict, and it could have been 20 years ago people are going to experience some doubt because they knew that you could not control yourself before.  Technically, you should not amuse an addict in any way, shape, or form, but if you are lonely yourself you are willing to take that risk of getting hurt.  You may have even lied to yourself and felt that in spite of their issues you would even get closer to them because of your acceptance of the issues that they are going through.  Then you get your feelings hurt all over again, because it does not seem to have been as personal of a decision to them as it was for you to have went there with them. 

This addiction comes in many shapes and forms.  Some wait until well within a relationship, and then try to introduce other people into it in hopes that you can derive as much satisfaction from the experiences as they can.  You say that you do not want to be part of such tomfoolery, and so they go out behind your back and find another third party to play this game with.  They tell you that they have a thing for their own gender, and you say that you aren’t interested and to keep that to themselves, and that they do.  The next thing you know you have ended up with HIV or AIDS.

If you meet someone and they are brave enough and have confided in you to the point of telling you of this problem what do you do then?  The right thing would be to offer yourself as a friend, but leave it at that and move on.  However most of us would rather just use and exploit someone in that position for our own amusement, only to live with our own conscious to deal with what happened when things did not work out.  It is a vulnerable position to be in, but someone has to put it out there like a disclaimer or a warning of what lies ahead.  How many of us are really mature enough to understand this and be of some help?

You can call it a joke or you can take it seriously, but from my understanding, all of the same physical traits that are underlying symptoms for other addictions exist for this addiction.  Theoretically, there is an infinite supply of this thing to be addicted to, though this addict is quick to leave a full reservoir in search of greener pastures long before they ever reach a point where replenishment can become an issue.  This addict has a hard enough time keeping his lies straight, and is certain to anger the wrong person that is not willing to let go of what they did to them, which can bring about their own demise prematurely.  It is an addiction that one can easily fall into, and one that can claim you as a victim under the right circumstances.  One that I would never want to have the pleasure of dealing with …