Habili-blog 3/4/18
“The youth of a nation ”
by Jared Mayes
While scrolling through random news articles recently there was one that stuck out to me and hit a nerve. “Middle schooler invents device to safely pick up needles!” I thought to myself what kind of world do we live in where are children are subjected to paraphernalia so much that they’ve taken it into their own hands to come up with a way to safely handle and dispose of syringes from their parks, and playgrounds? To use the word overexposure, would be an understatement. Drugs and alcohol have become such a part of the American culture that no one flinches when they are watching a movie and an actor or actress shoots some sort or drug into their veins. That particular school that the article was about has found 18 dirty needles on their school grounds so far this school year and even has implemented a duty to scour the school grounds every morning to reduce the risk of little Susie stumbling across an HIV infused surprise while playing hopscotch with her peers. This is just the scary reality of the destruction left behind from the current substance abuse cyclone sweeping across the nation. Let’s take a trip down memory lane to the 1950’s where the only concern a child had was what time they were going to meet at the park to play some ball. Not only do I doubt the likely hood of a child being exposed to any sort of discarded drug paraphernalia, I even more so doubt that any of them had even so much as heard of the word Heroin. So how do we go from a time when society ignores the existence of and discourages the education of substance abuse, to a time of tolerance and even glorification of a life of crime and drug usage? We can equate it to entertainment and the norm of a celebrity our children look of to, getting arrested for possession of drugs and getting a slap on the wrist until they spiral out of control and end up on some celebrity rehab show. More importantly I think it’s just bad timing that a surge in drug use initially brought on by the Woodstock, peace and love movement of the 60’s swamped the United States leaving the uneducated “Squares” of the previous generations ill equipped to understand what it was that was happening. I am a 28-year-old ex-drug addict from suburbia hell. The predisposition to my heroin usage is untraceable and I was given every chance to succeed. Maybe it was the movies I watched growing up or hearing rappers talking about how cool it is to “smoke weed every day,” but regardless, I like to think we as addicts have an opportunity when it comes to raising kids in a world where popularity is unachievable without the persistent use of mind altering substances. Education and prevention are key. So, when your daughter comes home from school smiling ear to ear saying that she invented a heroin rig picker upper, you don’t have to have a heart attack wondering what to do. You can rest easy knowing that you’ve done everything you can to educate your children about first of all what drugs are and why they don’t have to use them. The days of smiting your child just for the curiosity of what drugs do, are over. They have to understand what something is if you expect them to know not to do it. Kids are a lot smarter and receptive than adults tend to give them credit for, so I challenge you to treat your child like an adult and give them a fighting chance to stay clean in a world taken over by illegal substances.