We all perhaps have a family member or friend fighting addiction.
According to Oxford Languages, addiction is the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing or activity.
Mine has suddenly become the addiction to holding my phone and seeing stupid things — to me — posted on social media. There is also all those “fake news” items some read and believe is the gospel.
I came across something that talked about having a “drug” problem as a kid and read it. While I could relate to a few of the items, not all fit my upbringing.
Some of you, my loyal readers, may be able to relate to this “drug” problem. This is what I came across.
The other day, someone at a store in our town read that a methamphetamine lab had been found in an old farmhouse in the adjoining county. The man asked me a rhetorical question, “Why didn't we have a drug problem when you and I were growing up?”
I replied, “I had a drug problem when I was young — I was drug to church on Sunday morning. I was drug to church for weddings and funerals. I was drug to family reunions and community socials no matter the weather.
“I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful to adults. I was also drug to the woodshed when I disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spoke ill of the teacher or the preacher, or if I didn't put forth my best effort in everything that was asked of me.
“I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth washed out with soap if I uttered a profanity. I was drug out to pull weeds in mom's garden and flower beds and cockleburs out of dad's fields.
“I was drug to the homes of family, friends and neighbors to help out some poor soul who had no one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline, or chop some firewood, and, if my mother had even known that I took a single dime as a tip for this kindness, she would have drug me back to the woodshed.”
Those drugs are still in my veins and they affect my behavior in everything I do, say or think. They are stronger than cocaine, crack or heroin. And, if today’s children had this kind of drug problem, America would be a better place.
God bless the parents who drugged us.
• Rick Head is the Publisher and Editor of The Brantley Beacon and the Waycross Journal-Herald. He can be reached at [email protected]
