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Topic: Fulfillment (8)
Eleanor adjusted her reading glasses, the fine print of the newspaper blurring slightly. The headline screamed: "Youth Opioid Crisis Worsens: Experts Warn of Dire Consequences." A wave of dizziness washed over her, a familiar echo of the anxieties that had plagued her career as a school counselor.
Some 40 years ago, Eleanor had been a crusader in the "Just Say No" campaign. She had led assemblies, plastered the hallways with posters depicting the dangers of drugs, and counseled countless troubled teens. She'd believed, with unwavering conviction, that the solution to the drug problem lay in unwavering moral fortitude.
"Just Say No" had been her mantra, her battle cry against the insidious grip of addiction. She'd seen it work, or so she'd thought. Kids, initially resistant, would eventually succumb to the pressure, their resolve hardening against the temptations of drugs.
But the newspaper article shattered that illusion. The numbers were staggering. Overdose deaths skyrocketing. Young lives cut short. Families torn apart. Where had she gone wrong? Had "Just Say No" been nothing more than a simplistic slogan, a band-aid slapped on a gaping wound?
Eleanor remembered Mark, a bright-eyed boy with a mischievous grin. He'd been one of her success stories. "Just Say No," he declared, his voice firm, his eyes unwavering. He even created a rap song about the dangers of drugs, performing it with infectious enthusiasm at a school assembly.
But Mark, like so many others, eventually fell through the cracks. Years later, Eleanor had heard the tragic news: an overdose, another statistic in the grim tally of the opioid epidemic.
Guilt gnawed at her. Had she failed Mark? Had she failed all the other children she counseled, all the lives she had hoped to save? The "Just Say No" approach, she now realized, had been woefully inadequate. It had ignored the complexities of addiction, the physical underpinnings, the underlying traumas, the lack of evidence-based guidance that drove young people to self-destruct.
She remembered Dr. Ramirez, an older psychiatrist who had challenged her "Just Say No" dogma during a staff meeting. He had spoken of the importance of empathy, of understanding the root causes of addiction, of treating it as a physical condition instead of a moral failing.
Eleanor, in her youthful zeal, had dismissed him as an unrealistic academic. Now his words echoed in her mind, a haunting reminder of her own blind spots.
Weeks of sadness washed over her. She continually returned to thinking about the countless young people struggling with addiction, their lives teetering on the brink. At 67, what could she do now?
Then, she remembered a conversation with Deon, a former student, now a social worker specializing in addiction treatment. "The most important thing," he'd said, "is to listen. To understand. To offer support with evidence-based options – not judgment."
Eleanor decided to act. She contacted a local youth center, offering her time and expertise. She volunteered to mentor at-risk youth, to listen to their stories, to offer a compassionate ear.
It wasn't about "Just Say No" anymore. It was about understanding, about empathy, about offering a lifeline from a variety of professionals to those in need. It was about acknowledging the limitations of her past approach and embracing a new path, one built on compassion and understanding as well as new medical insight.
The ghost of "Just Say No" still lingered, a reminder of her past convictions. But Eleanor was determined to move forward, to learn from her mistakes, and to make a difference, one young person at a time.
Eleanor still marks that day she contacted the youth center. It was January 15, 2015.
And she remembers drifting off to sleep that night with a sense of peace that was long absent. It wasn't too late to make amends – to use her experience to help others. The fight against addiction was far from over, but Eleanor, armed with new understanding, was ready to join the battle.
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Here’s to mature-adult living!
Jim Hasse, ABC, GCDF retired, author of “52 Shades of Growing Together”
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Usually, throughout history, the very rich have dominated most societies.
As a young man in the 1970s, I saw the middle class represent about 45 percent of the population in America. I felt some hope that our country could go against precedent and prove that the middle class could continue to grow.
Now I’m not sure about that unique promise of America. The middle class portion of our population is now shrinking, and we are dominated by the very rich. Multinational companies have managed to gain 40 to 50 percent of the market share among many business sectors.
40 years ago I thought we had an opportunity to prevent that trend and maintain robust competition within the marketplace and within politics.
But are we now beyond the tipping point, where things tend to correct themselves? Is reform, for the benefit of the average person in America, going to be increasingly difficult as we go into mid-century?
Life-changing inventions, economic collapse and widespread war have traditionally been the engines to change social order (for bad or good) globally and within countries.
My hope is that war and depression are out of date as prime change agents. Today we’re in a whole new situation in which life-changing breakthroughs are coming at us from at least eight different directions.
Look for mind-bending changes in biotechnology, gene editing, biofuels, quantum computing, space exploration, renewable energy and materials science as well as artificial intelligence, the engine of them all.
How we manage those changes will determine who benefits: the many or the few.
* How have your thoughts changed about a tough issue that, over the years, never seems to be resolved?