Have you ever seen the little animated movie about Martin Luther King? It’s called “My Friend Martin”. I’ve seen it several times and I believe it does a great job of teaching our little guys about MLK. When I would show this movie to my students I loved to stop the tape and talk about how he fought for freedom, equality and faith. You know, about an idealistic world. There’s nothing wrong with shooting for the stars, in fact, I encourage it. Yet, in the type of world that we, recovering people that is, tend to come from, we are far from living in an idealistic world. I want friends and relatives like Martin, You know kind, fair, giving, helpful, responsible and throw a little fun in there too.
Yet, this is not always the case is it? When I look at my whole life with all the people in my family and the people I’ve chosen to connect with, I just want to twitch my nose and have all the drugs, alcohol and meanness zapped away and what would be left would be a loving, fun, responsible, hardworking group of people. Damn drugs!
If you watch the movie or study MLK’s life or just get a quick review of his childhood, you will find that he and his siblings were raised by wonderful, God fearing, peace loving, educated people. You will find that he was taught to love. To care, to turn the other cheek and to take care of his family. Knowing these facts is just more proof that an intact family is the backbone of our countries freedoms and well being. In tact families help children to grow into the kind of parents that also raise smart, healthy children and so on. This is not to say that some of those children will not go astray and take drugs, party, get pregnant and get hurt.
I just believe that family does matter and helping our little ones to navigate through life as best they can without the use of drugs (this includes alcohol) is the best we can offer them and this world as a whole. That’s why I started this blog, to help share some of the trials and tribulations and jubilations that come with having family that is not in tact. Family that is using and abusing drugs and wreaking havoc in our lives and in the lives of their own children. I have been that parent and I am the parent of an adult who has done the same thing. How do we stop this insanity? How do we protect these children and try to get back to raising healthy, loving, decent children who will make much better choices in their futures?
As we enjoy a day off to remember and honor a man who lead an exemplary loving life of peace and concern for others and their freedoms and equality, I would ask, how can we all get back to that? Martin Luther King is not just an icon or hero to talk about once a year on a day off. His life is proof that we can all do better. We can fight for our freedom, for our families, for our own recovery! For the little children. This week, I seen a piece on the Today Show on NBC about a foster family, I am including the link for this clip, have some Kleenex handy. This clip tells of pain of addiction and the hope for our children all at the same time. This is something very worth while to consider.
https://www.today.com/video/how-a-special-couple-is-helping-children-affected-by-the-opioid-crisis-77196869553
PS: I wish we could all have a friend like Martin!
Questions of the week: What can we do to bring our families back to being healthy, responsible, loving families? Or, how can we keep our families in tact to begin with?