LIving with Drugs

<--LeAlan and his best friend Lloyd Newman.

So as you know, on Friday we could listen to the radio diaries from people around the world that were given tape players for a certain amount of time to record their everyday lives. The radio story that caught my eye th most, or should I say ear, was Ghetto Life 101. The main boy who was telling his story, LeAlan Jones, was thirteen at the time. When I was listening to him talk, I was really impressed at how well he spoke, and smart he was in general. Later on during the recording, he and his mom talked about the drugs around where they lived. I imagine there were very many drugs in their neighborhood, living in the Ghetto and what not. When I was listening to this, it reminded me of a book I read a couple of months ago, Beauty Queen.

I'm sure you all remember me blogging about the book. It was about the girl who was addicted to Heroin and shot it up about every other minute. I'm sure where LeAlan lived there was Heroin, and about one thousand other drugs. In the radio story when he was talking about drugs, and how there were alot in his community, I was thinking about how addicted Sam was in the book. She was so addicted that she gave her life to the drug. I'm strongly against substance abuse as it is, but when I read this book, it made me even more angry about the subject. I feel sorry that LeAlan Jones had to live in environments where it was common for people to use drugs, and to sometimes result in dieing from use. I'm really glad that in most areas of Springfield it's pretty safe, and drugs aren't everywhere you look. If I was LeAlan, I personally wouldn't feel safe one bit. I would be scared to even walk out of my front door, and to go to school, and just any place in general. In Beauty Queen, Sam also lives in an environment where drugs are easy access, SO she takes advantage of this, and starts dealing and using substances to her own advantage. Sam and LeAlan obviously had their own likes and differences. Sam used, and LeAlan didn't, but both of them lived in the same surroundings as each other.

In conclusion, comparing these two subjects really opened my eyes. When I was reading Sam's story, I started to realize all of the dangers of using drugs, and how addicting one little bag of "smack" can spin your world completely around. When I was listening to LeAlan's story I realized that living in those conditions, is almost just as bad as using. LeAlan still had to be around people that used at a very young age. His mom was mentally insane, so he didn't have the best example at home, Sam's mom was a drunk, and she rarely ever even talked to Sam. Just looking at both of these stories, you probably don't realize how alike they are, but that's the main point of my post. I'm thankful for where I live, and for the decisions that I make so that I don't have to go through what Sam and LeAlan did.

I hope everyone as a GREAT summer, and I'll see you next year hopefully!!