One of the clients I worked with over the past year was found dead at her home. She recently graduated from the Drug Court and seemed to be heading the right direction. This happens in this work where complications from drugs and alcohol can be deadly. I felt very sad about her going and wish she had reached out for help when things appeared to have turned the wrong way for her. She left two small children and a spouse who was like a third child. Her life has been a struggle for a long time. She is now free of that struggle but her children are not.
Her children are on my mind today because I work with clients every day who came from disrupted homes and they have a hard time navigating through life without parental support. One of the present clients in treatment comes to mind. Even though her mother was there for her she still is having a very hard time feeling ok about herself. As a little girl she felt ugly, fat and stupid she says. As she surfaces from 12 years of using she is discovering that she is a bright person who still doesn’t see the beauty the rest of us see in her. She is struggling even with the support of a mother who cares.
Birth control and sex education seem to be a very important needs these days. There are so many people who have kids that are not able to take care of them because of their addictions and mental health issues. It is so irresponsible of people who are against birth control and education because of some religious beliefs. Those beliefs are just wrong thoughts for those who grow up without supportive parents. Are those who object to birth control and education taking on these abandoned children?
On another note: What is with these people carrying weapons at a health insurance presentation by President Obama and why are they not immediately removed? During Mr. Bush’s reign of errors, if people even had bumper stickers on their cars that where questionable, they were taken from the area. Is the Secret Service doing their job? I am sorry but having an assault weapon seems like a kind of replacement for some kind of inner inadequacy. These people are scary and obvious live in fear of their own thoughts.
Insurance note: Yes we do need a public options, as it is the health insurance and drug companies are going to get even richer from the wallets of us ordinary people. Without a public option there is not a chance for real change. Here are few more references in support of the public option:
http://words-of-power.blogspot.com/2009/08/you-are-not-voice-in-wilderness-you-are.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/three-reasons-why-a-stron_b_261829.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/opinion/18herbert.html?_r=1
http://www.standwithdrdean.com/