Josh Hamilton has long since passed the point that we can separate his immense baseball talent from his immense substance abuse issues, the star athlete from the addict. Or, as important, the star athlete from the addict from the husband, the father – the man.

This is the blessing and the curse for those who choose to live their lives in the public eye. Politicians, entertainers and athletes are three of a kind in that way. Sure, they could do what they do without the public acclaim. But making policy at a homeowners association meeting, singing in the shower or tossing a ball around the back yard with a child isn't quite the same as doing it with everyone watching.

When we met Hamilton here in North Texas, he already was a story. A top-of-the-draft baseball talent who threw it all away on crack and booze, only to hit bottom, find God and start the long road back. As stories go, it was irresistible, and when Hamilton joined the Texas Rangers in a trade before last season, it became our story, too.

As addiction stories go, it took a predictable, if no less distressing, turn in January, although few of us knew about it until last weekend, when photos of Hamilton – shirtless and drunk in an Arizona bar, cavorting with women unknown – showed up on the Internet.

To his credit, Hamilton had immediately told the people most affected – his wife and the team paying his salary – that he'd fallen off the wagon. When this chapter in his story went public, he stood up like a man and answered every question. His wife, Katie, posted to our dallasnews.com Rangers blog this week that he had her full support and that if she forgave him, couldn't his fans?

It's not an unfair question. Unlike the vast majority of the Rangers' customers, Katie Hamilton sees Josh not as a baseball star but as the man she married and with whom they share responsibility for raising three children. They also share a tenacious faith, on which they lean for every step of Josh's recovery.

Yet they know, as we all should, that recovering from addiction is never complete. Josh Hamilton strayed in January when a voice in his head convinced him that, sure, he could have one drink. As those photos prove, that's fine for many people but not everyone.

And not to beat you over the head with the increasingly trite "teachable moment," but there is something in this story for the rest of us. Josh Hamilton struggles mightily with inner demons. He makes it through the vast majority of his days assisted by the best support system one can imagine. The Rangers see to it, assigning club employees to monitor him. You know that Katie sees to it, too.

We know of Josh Hamilton, but few of us know him. Yet we do know five or 10 or a dozen friends and family members battling the same kinds of addiction problems: drugs, alcohol, sex, gambling – you name it. These are the people we can help, even as we root for more famous strangers to give them hope.