Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Humpty Dumpty took a great fall as with substance abuse


Today I am talking about a three part series in the newspaper about a volunteer informant who was lured by angry drug transporters to a house, tortured and killed, despite being under the protection of law enforcement trying to keep track of him after a drug shipment had been confiscated. Well, this is drug war at the top where the big shipments of drugs come into Phoenix to be distributed across the country.
At the bottom level, we the people deal with the substance abusers who get so out of control they have to be evicted which happened recently in our complex to a resident who had been sober quite a few years. He was a popular attractive man so his meltdown to the status of homeless on the hard streets of blazing summer heat in Arizona was disturbing. I had seen him a few months before his descent back into alcoholism act as though he were under the influence of drugs I assumed to be illegal, and was alarmed, knowing that could be a trigger to a drinking pattern so extreme that death could well be the result.
I just don't know if Humpty Dumpty can ever be put back together again so he can survive a few more years. If not, his loss will seem like a frightful waste.
My own take on such loss of control is that we need better and more communication. That is why I have taken to talking each day out under the trees to everybody and anybody. I have given up TV so as to free up more time and energy for this important activity.
I think TV watching, all of us in our separate little cubicles, has changed us into lonely disconnected people, and the only answer is to make time for what used to be called 'neighboring' once again. The more bad news we hear on TV, the more fearful we become of everyone, and actually the more we don't talk, the more dangerous we may actually be, because TV watching is not interactive. Only a few people get to perform. So during hours and hours of TV related inactivity, we tend to abuse substances alarmingly. Even our children get fat from inactivity. And we remain undeveloped in so many ways, which is the fate of those who only watch and do not do.
Kids interacting only with a box do not develop social skills needed to raise communication to higher levels. It is no wonder political squabbles sound like people who have no understanding of what other people are all about, a bunch of ranting.
The internet invites more partipation from everyone which is what we need. I choose it over TV as my activity using the technological. I choose reading because so much more depth can be put into a good book which is not possible with TV and all the controls exerted over it by advertisers, etc.
I feel I have already made strides in my communication just by focusing on it and making sure I do it. I have been having the most interesting indepth conversations with an amazing amount of people. Why no TV program could be any more fascinating. I am hearing lots of stories of childhood difficulties that people have survived. And all the time I can see the people reviving like wilted flowers with attention focused on them and their stories. I have tried to watch so many shoddy creations on TV for so many years. I just did not have the courage to free myself from TV bondage. There was always the chance I might miss something. Now I think of what I have missed by spending so many years watching.
Had my friend been convinced that his salvation lay in communication, talking about his feelings of depression and boredom, perhaps he would not be fighting for his life in the hard mean streets. I knew he suffered from boredom, as he would say it. But he just did not connect enough before he substituted a concoction of poisonous substances to give him his high. Too many years among people addicted to the box. We were programmed to think we could not get along without it. I am freeing myself slowly and feeling sad because it may be too late for him. So think of change before it is too late!

5 comments:

DB said...

I am glad I don't own a TV and I don't miss it.

I know an actor who is very pleased to have been cast in a network program. It's a big soap opera type show with a lot of disgusting characters. It has no redeemeing value. He's making good money and getting exposure but he's signing his name to junk once a week. Worst of all it's telling people that that's the way they should behave.

Real communication between people is a wilted garden. So good of you to keep it alive.

There are plenty of older men who can talk in a friendly manner to a child without thinking about kidnapping them. I love kids but I won't talk to them or I'll be suspected.

Humpty Dumpty only broke it's shell. It's what's inside that counts.

DB

Have Myelin? said...

Very insightful post.....And timely too.

Hum. I will go think. =)

Missie said...

I sent you a freind request days ago for FB.

Have a good rest of your week.

LaRena said...

Gerry this is a very good entry. I feel very strongly the lack of communication,especially in a big city. I am fortunate that I have many friends who love to discuss. I missed that aspect of life so very much in Boulder. At that time the men were all working so hard and the women's interests were very limited. (Like how many loads of clothes they had washed that day, and how their garden was growing.) Nothing wrong with this, but I remember feeling so excruciatingly bored an miserable, I dreaded some and wanted to get back to my books where life felt more interesting.

You have always had the ability to get a good discussion going. I admire that and I am sure those people are starved for someone to listen to them. My son Terry always said with great kindness, "Everyone has their story." He would tell me that when I would say things like, "How can you stand to listen to the drunks at the bar?" Of course he knew that sort of comment would touch my heart and let him off the hook about spending hours at the bar drinking beer. He had some pretty clever ways of avoiding my lectures. I can hardly blame him for that. It was years before I could admit to my self how bad I was about lecturing those I cared about. I gave it up, but to this day certain things can send me right off into s big ole' lecture. Image my surprise when I figured out that they denoted such an effect of superiority on my part. Poor kids and grand kids.

I am a good lightener but have a hard time giving meaningful feedback to people's stories. I have learned that if I can hit the right note people will light right up. Hence your good work out on the patio. May you reach many wilted flowers and cause them to blossom, instead of becoming Humpty Dump ties.

Connie said...

I worry about him out there,too.
Maybe he found a friend to take him in....I Pray!!


Herrad

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