2010-10-06

How Long Until These Words Are Understood

In honor of the neighbor of mine who went on a 7-hour marijuana bender last night, I'd like to put forth some food for thought.
In this crusade, let us not forget who we are. Drug abuse is a repudiation of everything America is. The destructiveness and human wreckage mock our heritage. Think for a moment how special it is to be an American. Can we doubt that only a divine providence placed this land, this island of freedom, here as a refuge for all those people on the world who yearn to breathe free? 

The revolution out of which our liberty was conceived signaled an historical call to an entire world seeking hope. Each new arrival of immigrants rode the crest of that hope. They came, millions seeking a safe harbor from the oppression of cruel regimes. They came, to escape starvation and disease. They came, those surviving the Holocaust and the Soviet gulags. They came, the boat people, chancing death for even a glimmer of hope that they could have a new life. They all came to taste the air redolent and rich with the freedom that is ours. What an insult it will be to what we are and whence we came if we do not rise up together in defiance against this cancer of drugs.

How long until we understand these words? Let us not forget who we are. Drug abuse is a repudiation of everything that America is.

Now, the specific question of the "legalization" of drug abuse is entirely political. Those who favor legalization believe it would alleviate some of the serious problems attached to the drug trade. Those who oppose it, believe that making drugs illegal is a good way to combat their effects on our society. Clearly, there are good intentions on both sides.

In general, I opt not to tackle that question. What is important to me is promoting a society that ideologically opposes drug consumption, regardless of the politics. When people understand that to blot out your rationality is to blot out yourself and to kill yourself piece by piece, when people finally realize that America is a nation founded on philosophy, individual value, achievement, and excellence, then perhaps they will take a little time to reflect on these words, and realize how right he was when he spoke them.

What is America, to you? How does your behavior reflect on that?

4 comments:

  1. Excellently reasoned. I like it. I miss our late night philosophical discussions.

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  2. I miss it, too. Back then, music mattered, art mattered, ideas mattered. It's a charming time of anyone's life. If anyone had told me then that most people have to fight to keep their passions into their 30s, I think I would have given that person a blank stare.

    Well, I'm glad there are still a few of us out there. :) Maybe we'll have a few other such conversations some time.

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  3. Windows and doors that surround me crack and gently warp.

    Genius.

    Keeping your passions into your forties is just as hard, and just as important.

    I think TV and soft 'drugs' like it affect FAR more of our population and pose a MUCH greater threat to civilization than the typically targeted 'hard core' drugs that we love to hate.

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  4. Absolutely, Phil. Whenever we turn our minds off and zone out, that's when we've lost it, including TV. It's scary.

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