SOUNDING OFF:

My heart was pounding like a jackhammer reading the Daily Pilot article (“Director defends rehab clients,” Dec. 15). So I took it as a sign that I had to respond to the obvious arrogance and ignorance pervading those upset by Sober Living by the Sea’s existence in their back yard.

I am a Newport Beach resident and am proud to say I walk the streets of our pampered surroundings with nine years of sobriety under my belt. I shutter to think where I’d be today if the community of Van Nuys would have turned its nose in the air upon my arrival to Twin Town Treatment Center. It certainly would have presented an excuse to cave to negative pressure.

Do money and a comfortable life also afford you the ability to choose your neighbors?

We live in a free society. Nelson Mandela coined it best, “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

This isn’t William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies,” where without society’s boundaries, man returns to savagery. Maybe you won’t literally throw stones, however, that is what you’re doing to Sober Living by the Sea with your disapproval.

Remember, our country’s at war, protecting our freedoms. I’m sure the families of troops in Iraq would find little comfort in believing their loved one died for your right to complain over the location of a rehab center. Moreover, how tragic it is that the center’s executive director is afraid to reveal his identity. His profession is no less anchored in saving lives than a cancer doctor or philanthropist, yet I can’t imagine either being forced to conceal their identities.

To peninsula resident Cindy Koller, who accuses rehab residents of intoxication and desires them to have background checks: Did you ever consider that you live near Cannery Village, the melting pot of watering holes, and the odds are that the person urinating on your fence is a local bar patron, not someone spending good money to rebuild their life at Sober Living by the Sea?

Background checks? Come on. Sounds reminiscent of the McCarthy Era blacklisting. What’s next, the creation of the House Committee on Un-American Activities rehab-center-style? May I remind you of how many careers and families were destroyed in the early ’50s due to stereotyping and speculation?

As the adage goes, those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Perhaps your beef should be with the local police or the Chamber of Commerce.

People could learn a great deal from someone in rehab, someone who is strong enough to admit their weaknesses, but determined to amend them, someone who can pause thinking of themselves to have compassion for those struggling.

Rehab is one of the most humbling experiences. Entering rehab doesn’t signify hitting the proverbial “rock bottom” that it’s stereotyped to be, but rather, it marks a new beginning.

I’ll never forget all the beautiful souls I met who taught me invaluable lessons about myself — most notably, to never judge a book by its cover.

To those who think they can’t relate to those at Sober Living by the Sea, remember it is pride that goes before a fall. You might do yourself some good pondering the creed of alcoholics: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

May you wake up tomorrow with the “wisdom to know the difference.”

CINDY OLSEN is a Newport Beach resident.