There was a huge drug bust in our part of the world very recently.
Like everyone else I know, I was relieved. Relieved that our law enforcement was working to try and curb this enormous blight in our world. The ravages of drugs are seen and felt every where. And it’s horrific. Children being born with life long problems that were 100% preventable. If the baby escapes the perils of physical damage at birth they are being born into homes that are not capable of nurturing and supporting them. Children are going to school unfed, uncared for and unprepared to be part of a learning environment. The schools are overwhelmed. The medical profession is now being used as a monitoring system for things they are not prepared to deal with. Communities are trying to accommodate families in crisis. There isn’t enough money to do all that needs done to repair what drugs are doing.
We are all dealing with things we are not prepared to deal with.
I celebrated the drug bust.
I was happy it was being addressed.
I followed the story.
The celebration has been short lived.
I know the realities of what drugs are doing. You see it in the pictures of the persons arrested. Though there is reason to be very appreciative of the work the law enforcement put in….there is more.
There are people so controlled by the beast of addiction you only see a shell of a human being in their arrest pictures.
There are people so willing to take advantage of another person’s addictions and suffering that they will produce and sell and destroy communities in their greed. You can see it in the arrogance of their arrest pictures.
There are people who can still question how in the hell did they get here. You can see it in the fear of their arrest pictures.
There are children that belong to those faces.
There are parents.
There are all kinds of people that know those faces.
All having, I would suspect, differing thoughts on what has happened.
Relief? Finally, maybe he/she will get help.
Gratitude? Finally, keep that scum out of our community.
Fear? Being left alone.
Terror? Who are these people I (child) now have to live with (foster? family? friends?)?
Shame.
Embarrassment.
Anger.
Uncertainty.
I can’t deny my celebration of the hard work of the law enforcement.
But I cannot celebrate the destruction drugs are having on our world. One person at a time. It spreads out and impacts every single one of us in some form or another. I cannot celebrate the crushing sadness I feel at what drugs are doing to humanity. One person at a time.
Thank you law enforcement, I appreciate what you have done.
But I stopped celebrating.
