Silent Killers

This week’s blog is quite sensitive; however, there are some very real issues related to this topic, and it’s time someone spoke up. Today I want to talk about drugs. I can honestly say I have always been against them, but until this week, I’ve never felt so obliged to work the topic into a blog.

Example one: Cory Monteith. Yes, he is the most recent celebrity to lose his life to a drug overdose, but I have more reason than that to bring him up. Now, I can’t say I know everything about drugs and how people become addicted etc., but it physically hurts to think of how many young people are falling victim to the addictive qualities of drugs.

I know you’ve all heard it a million times: the recycled “don’t do drugs” mantra that adults repeat like breathing patterns until you learn to let the words dissipate into white noise, along with all the other life lessons you hear too much of. By the time you’re sixteen, you simply don’t listen anymore. It’s like you train your brain to automatically switch off when the words start to sound like the all-too-familiar speech. It’s not like you try to disrespect them, but there comes a point where you just stop caring. It’s human nature.

However, as you grow older and experience the world -- (not that I’m an expert, but I’ve had my moments) -- you start to feel the substance of truth in all of these ‘life lessons’ you’re brainwashed with as a child. For me personally, Monteith’s death was one of those moments. I’ve never done drugs, and don’t intend to either, but this one hit me like a big yellow school bus.

I was a huge fan of Glee during seasons 1 and 2. I got season 1 on DVD for my 17^th, and decided to watch it again a few weeks ago. I was halfway through the season when Monteith died. This isn’t about me loving Glee, or Cory for that matter. However, until these issues hit a little closer to home than some random on the news who died in their house on the other side of the country, you don’t really pay attention to it. So naturally, this was my closer-to-home experience.

The biggest tragedy isn’t even that he died of an overdose. What struck me was the lead up to his death. While he was in LA filming the show, he portrayed a young man getting his life back together. He spoke openly about his previous struggles with drugs, and even went to rehab in April to get help after he felt himself slipping back into his old habits. It takes a lot of strength to admit to having an addiction, and opening up when the whole world is watching, is clearly a lot harder than doing it privately. So I have to acknowledge his efforts. Nevertheless, he still died years before his time. When Cory would go home to Canada to see his family, he meddled with his old friends. Unfortunately, they encouraged heavy partying and drug abuse.

However, his downfall wasn’t temptation. If you have an addiction, you’re faced with temptation wherever you go. It comes with the territory. The silent killer when it comes to addictions (of any kind) is denial. Denial is the little voice in your head telling you that “you can handle it.” It tells you to test your boundaries. It convinces you to have ‘just a taste’. This quickly turns into “do it just one more time. You won’t die.” And the arrogant thing about being young and healthy is you think you’re invincible. You think you can handle things that are stronger than your immune system. Newsflash: you can’t. Before you know it, you’re addicted and alone. You become so obsessed with getting a hit that you lose focus on other priorities in your life.

That’s the problem with drugs. I’m not saying you should never have fun, but there are things in this world that aren’t worth the price you pay for them. You need to weigh up the consequences of what your definition of ‘fun’ is, before you try anything. Drugs don’t play for fun. They play for keeps.

By now, I’m probably copping a tonne of slander. Honestly, I am much happier to take it than to keep silent and pretend I don’t care. Really, how many more people need to die before we take this seriously?

Everyone goes on about how drugs ‘killed so-and-so’. But that’s only the last fragment of a long battle. The reality of drugs is a degenerative process. They take away your life, destroy your dreams, break up families, dry out bank accounts, and then kill you. Then your parents get the horrifying task of burying their children against the natural order of life.

I’ve debated the issue with a lot of people who don’t agree with me, and that’s fine. Each has the power of choice over their own life. I will never tell people what to do unless they’re my children, or someone asking for advice. I’m just saying that life is so much easier when you take someone else’s example as a lesson. Life is just way too short to learn every lesson first-hand. Frankly, I’m tired of seeing young people lose the next fifty years of their lives to addictions. But you play with fire, and it will burn. Don’t be foolish and expect different results to anyone else just because you’re young. That’s the definition of insanity. If Judy, Michael, Brittany, Pimp C, Amy and Cory could come back, I’m sure they’d say the same. That doesn’t even count the thousands of people who die of the same causes and aren’t remembered just because they’re not famous.

So please, please, please, just think before you do things. The effects of everything you say, do and touch will impact not only yourself, but all the people in your vicinity, too. I don’t think we consider them enough when we make careless choices. But you really need to remember that there are people who look up to you, rely on you, want to be you, people who smile just because you breathe, and people who love you, so much. Drugs carry a hidden and costly price tag, but life is simply invaluable.

Essentially, life is a series of small choices that build up to bigger things, like a puzzle. Each piece impacts the bigger picture. Just think about that while you’re writing the story of your life.

I hope you all enjoyed this week’s blog, and feel free to leave comments/feedback & suggestions for future blog topics. Don’t forget to like my facebook page at www.facebook.com/bettieteesblogspot to stay updated with my blogs etc. Alternatively, search up ‘Bettie Tee’s Blogspot’.