love intensely

there's a young woman that i know who may be the most impressive person i've ever met. i can't even begin to tell you all of the reasons why, only that she has faced more in seventeen years than most will face in seventy, and she's my shining star.
last night i had a long talk with her which ended with us talking about addiction. she's a recovering addict, and i'm addicted to the idea of breaking addictions--fitting then, eh? it was the first time i'd talked to her about addiction and i found myself saying these words, "i confuse myself, because part of me wants to work with addicts so that i can help them succeed, and part of me is so freaking frustrated that i don't ever want to see another addict. i've never even used drugs, and i just don't understand addiction."
this beautiful girl put it to me like this--and i think it may have been the most perfect analogy ever used. she said,:
think of it like this--say you are on the sidewalk and you see a little girl in the street. you know that she is about it get run over, what do you do? you would do everything in your power to make sure that little girl didn't get run over, right? you'd even jump out in front of that car to save her, if it meant that you died.
well that's what it's like with an addict and their addiction. the addict sees their addiction as you see that little girl. they will do anything to save their addiction, even if it means that they lose everything.

this is frustrating. but it makes more sense than anything i've ever heard.