Drugs, Families & Solutions

The daughter begs her father for money for a heroin fix to which the father replies,

“you sold your soul to the devil, you might as well give him your body. Go sell yourself on the street. I am done with you.”

Could you say that? Could I?

“No.”

Well, maybe, but, I think not. Seeing my child in pain reduces the hard edge crust to a thin veneer. Even having seen the devastation addiction creates for individuals and families, it would be hard, if not impossible, to reject one of my children in trouble. So, what is the solution? Can the government legalize drugs as did the Netherlands and expect anything, but, legions of drug addicted government dependents?

Where do we as individuals draw the line? How do we as parents prevent our children from taking a wrong path? Does Anthony Weiner present us with a view of ourselves as a collective body? Are we as a society corrupted beyond repair? What happens to the addicts and losers if we do not care? Will a society riddled with corruption and decadence survive in tact? Can you save it? Can I? Can government? Can anyone?

Where does a child go wrong? Is it the parenting, the role model, the culture? Could the child have any responsibility for their future when they are 10, 11, 12? Or, are they mere pawns of their family castle? Might they be byproducts of the environment or may they be pitiful pieces in a universal drama? In my opinion, no one has answered those questions. Nor, has anyone with credibility shown us solutions.

“We are a culture adrift in a sea of rhetoric.”

If our street corner had a priest, a rabbi or a strong minister would it be different? Has the “old world” escaped the modern ravages of ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll’? We are summation of a era of overindulgence. Today, people seek power and wealth on the backs of the MIAs of the future. Political figures are selling our children and beyond down the river for a few dollars and a nice office. No bus, nor business palace can cover up the facade of those hawking themselves as solutions. Our solution lies within each one of us, not in a bus or on teleprompter.

The path to social ruin was not an immediate one, but it was hastier than one could imagine. In my lifetime the standard for acceptable dress, speech and behavior has gone from respectable to raunchy. In less than 50 years we as a nation have gone from an emerging super power to a collection of individuals acting as sheep being led to slaughter. We bleat a lot, but, we keep walking to our demise believing it’s nor our fault.

My sons, daughters and grandchildren face a civilization foreign to me. In my youth opportunities were limitless, drugs forbidden, and sex, well, sex was a fantasy. Crossing the line had consequences both inside the family and the community. Being a drinker put one on the outside of many social circles. A loose woman had few reputable friends. Drug addicts and deviants were shunned. But, that was yesterday and the fish bowl is broken and the gasping guppies need rescue. Yesterday means squat, today, we must face the issue of decadence.

Camelot Needs Cleaning

Camelot, the shinning city on the hill, and equality seem far away from the realities of the corruption of our society. Those empty words and images do little to shelter us from the reality of our collapse. We may duck our heads, but, when we look back up, the violence, the ugliness, the shame still stands between us and yesterday. We had it, but, we threw it away for sexual freedom and liberation. The moral standards were just too restrictive for the generation of “new thinkers” showing us the way to freedom on our own terms, not, those of our ancestors. Again, I repeat, we bought into the fantasies and empty promises. We wanted to believe there were not consequences for the new “freedoms.”

You, me and dog named Bobbi Sue won’t put Oz back together again. There is not going back to family values and traditions. That is an economy sized load of horse manure. Billi Jo was a boy and, now, he’s the high school prom queen. The family will never be the same. It’s not his/her fault. It’s our fault. And, we must find the solution going forward, not looking backward. I lived through the 50′s, 60′s, 70′, and 80′s. There were some bumpy times for everyone. Times were simple, decisions seemed easy, but it was not nirvana.

The fix for our culture, government, and financial condition lies not in words, but, action. The start of the change lies at the beginning, not the middle. We cannot patch up the road, jump back 10-20-30 years and make it all better. Anthony Weiner without the internet would still be Anthony Weiner, only his path of self destruction would different. Fixing Anthony Weiner will not fix you, me or the girl on heroin. If we demand changes of others, few listen or change. If you and I make changes, the world changes. The journey forward begins with each one of us individually.

We cannot prevent our sons and daughters from making errors in their lives. We just cannot. We can live our lives to the best of our ability and be the best role models we can for our families, but, we cannot be them, or rescue them. We must see our future with a clear eye cast forward, evolving toward a vision for individual freedom, not, rescue. Restriction in our behavior must be a personal choice, not a public one.

That said, if we continue to deconstruct the power of the family and the local community our nation’s path to mass suicide will be set.