The Mist

 When I encounter people who are impaired, I often see a cloud form around them.  After observing them, it gradually becomes obvious that this person can't see clearly.  It’s not that their sight is weakened. They could have near perfect pilot's vision, but something has occurred to make their life go out of focus for them. It's as if a static takes shape around their bodies.  This static gets thicker as it reflects their level of stress or dysfunction. It quickly becomes a translucent cloud.  Then it all starts to make sense.

It's like they're driving at night in thick fog.  They have no idea where they are, and they can't see any of the landmarks to bring things back into perspective. They are lost inside their bodies.

This is not to say that these people shouldn't be held accountable for their actions. Nor am I saying that nothing is their fault.  They're still driving that body. However, it should be kept in mind that they just can't make out what direction they're pointed in, or where a safe place to stop would be.

But then this can get confusing, as there are different kinds of impairments.

Sometimes it's pretty clear that that person knows about the cloud.  They seem to understand that something is off, and they aren't driving straight. Often, this makes things worse.  They might attempt to communicate to the world that they don't understand, but they do it erratically and lose control. They slip and fall repeatedly. This creates pain, and the cloud feeds on pain.  It gets bigger. The impairment grows.  These poor people just can't get out of the storm, but they know it's there so they keep trying. Sometimes the only thing to do for these people is to grab hold of an anchor, tie yourself off, and jump right in with them.  You have to experience their haze in order to help them. You need to take their hand, and let them know you're with them.  Then, slowly but surely, the two of you can climb out together.

In other cases, the person can't see the problem. This is problematic, because their clouds tend to be the biggest and darkest, but they have no idea.  These clouds take over their entire world, but these people go on as if they hadn't. They just continue moving about the fog aimlessly. They think they're headed one way, but they've been off course for some time.

These individuals pose the biggest threat. They'll veer off track and head right for you without noticing. What's worse is there seems to be no way to show them that it's time to slow down and pull over.