Preparing for the Destination

"Before beginning a long and arduous journey the prudent traveler checks her maps, clocks and address-book entries and makes certain that her clothes will suit the weather she plans to encounter.  If the trip includes crossing national boundaries, she examines her travel documents for their validity and, to the best of her ability, furnishes her wallet with the appropriate currency for her destination.  This traveler urges us toward sober deliberation and stolid concentration.

"The second traveler is less careful, not so meticulous in planning the trip and, as a result, will encounter delays, disruptions and even despair. When disappointments mount to intolerable proportions, this traveler may even give up and return home, defeated.  We learn from this example to either prepare well or stay at home.

"It is the third, the desperate traveler who teaches us the most profound lesson and affords us the most exquisite thrills.  She touches us with her boldness and vulnerability, for her sole perpetration is the fierce determination to leave wherever she is and her only certain destination is somewhere other than where she has been."

-Maya Angelou

Save Addicts

Bill Thompson is an ambulance driver and EMT in Illinois.  He is also a big-hearted man who I am proud to know.  And he wrote something that has been dear to my heart for a long time:

"The longer I spend in this field the more I realize I have to be a champion for addicts. Seems like every day lately I overhear, or take part in, a conversation that centers around addiction.

"The points being offered are usually the same, 1) Addicts aren't as good as the rest of us, 2) They choose to be addicts, and 3) Why is it our responsibility to save them?

"All three are points that make me want to punch a hole in a wall.

"1) Addicts are the same as everyone else. They are people, and I guarantee all of us are surrounded by recovered, or active, addicts and we have no idea. If anything, if we choose to turn our backs on those suffering from addiction then we aren't as good as they are.

"2) No one chooses to be an addict. The science bears this out, but beyond that, if you really think someone chooses to lose control and alienate those who care about them, I don't know how best to respond to that

"3) We can't save addicts. We can keep them alive, we can help them. That's the most we can do, and we do it because we are human beings. The person addicted to heroin is still a person, and it's my responsibility as a human being to help my fellow man, when I am able.

"Very few of you will read this, but this is a topic I care more about every day, and I'm not backing down."