Sometime last week, here in the Fresno area, a young woman's body was discovered on the side of a road wrapped in a blanket. At first it was assumed that she was the victim of homicide. It was learned, however, that she had died from a drug overdose and her body had been discarded. Discarded by whom? A couple of days ago another body was found - this time it was a man found in a dumpster. Again, he died of a drug overdose and his body was put in the dumpster.
How sad! When my kids were caught up in drug addiction they believed with all their hearts that the people they were hanging out with were real friends. It was so hard for me to watch my kids dedicate so much time and emotion to people with whom they had little in common, outside of the drugs. I wonder if it was "friends" who dumped the bodies of the two young people who so tragically lost their lives to their addiction. In the days and hours prior their deaths, they were most likely hanging out, maybe watching TV or listening to music. I bet they told a few jokes, laughed with their friends, talked on the phone, or maybe bought a gallon of milk and a pack of cigarettes at 7-11. A few days before their death they may very well have been in the trusted company of people they cared about - and then they died.
What went through the minds of the people who discovered the body of their friend? Did they panic? Did they feel remorse or fear? Was it a group of people who came up with the plan to dump the body of their friend, or was it a lone person? I know from watching the effects of drugs ravage the minds of my beautiful children that when a person is using they cannot think clearly or rationally. A user sees things that are not real, feel things that cannot be felt when sober, and rationalizes where there is no logical rationale.
There were so many nights I laid awake praying that the body found in a sleazy motel room, or in a dark alley would not be that of my child. Today I am praying for the families and friends of two young people who are the latest victims of this terrible disease called addiction.
