Jon Orens’ story showed how addiction can really change someone’s perspective on life. Jon even said himself that his son’s addiction and death shifted the way he viewed life and the issues surrounding addiction. Just like all of the other speakers that came prior to him, Jon stressed the importance of ‘verbiage’ and how not to categorize people struggling with drug use as ‘addicts.’ Most of the talk focused on Jon’s journey in understanding his son’s struggle.

Jon admitted that he often thought Dan, his son, would just make excuses as to why he was using drugs but as time went on, Jon started to realize that Dan would actually be telling the truth about how he felt. Jon specifically mentioned how Dan would tell his father that he didn’t know why he felt the need to keep on using drugs during relapses. This is important for people to know because often times, people who suffer from an addiction don’t know what motivates them to feel that way according to Jon. Jon touched on other personal thoughts too like having to teach himself that addiction is “more about chemistry not character.”