At times we all long to escape the pressures of life and simply let the world drift by, this feeling is normal. What is abnormal is when some people take this a step too far and choose to lose themselves in illicit drugs or alcohol, this soon leads to a downward spiral which has tragic consequences for the family.
Parenting is not an easy job in fact it is the most difficult job in the world. There are enormous pressures on parents to provide the best that money can buy for their family and also in having to be present to your children almost 24 hours a day. There are NO holidays when you're simply mom or dad, there are also no sick days when you can lay in bed and recover at your leisure, parents are on the go all day every day, week in and week out.
The illegal drug industry has progressed from the tenements and infiltrated into suburbia, where ordinary mom's and dad's are now existing on a cocktail of methamphetamine, alcohol, cocaine and marijuana. Though this might provide a temporary relief as your mind is overcome with the effects of these powerful drugs it is no cure for what you are trying to escape. When you finally come out of your doped induced euphoria parents still have to face the same problems, so drugs are not the answer to anyone's main problem.
When both parents are using illegal drugs such as the above mentioned then one can state categorically you are not a good parent. Many moms and dads fool themselves into thinking that they can abuse their own bodies, break the law and still think that they can be responsible and loving parents, this is contradictory and also a false belief. As many drugs induce feelings of paranoia, delusions, hallucinations and mood swings, homicidal thoughts as well as suicidal thoughts will also take over the mind of the drug abuser.
Children are very perceptive and very intuitive but they are not mature enough to handle the enormity of dealing with a parent hooked on drugs. Some parents may wish to live with the thought that their abuse of illegal drugs is NOT affecting their children, this is a dangerous day dream as children are very much affected by their parents loss of control while in a state of mind and mood altering drugs. It is frightening for the children to witness the decline into temporary madness that overtakes the parent who is busy having their 'trip'.
A parent cannot delude themselves with the thought that they only DO drugs when their children are asleep. This may hold up for a while until the drugs completely rule the life of the mother or father and they are unable to keep up a happy family facade. There comes a time when the parents attempts to hide their drug paraphernalia is gone and their children awaken in the mornings to a doped out and aggressive mom or dad. As the instruments used to dope themselves up lay strewn across the living room floor, including used syringes and smoked out pipes, is this really a good environment for children?
There many parents who delude themselves into thinking that they are in control of their drug addiction when in fact they are not. A mother or father cannot state their favourite drug of choice, including ecstasy and then say in the same breath that they are loving and responsible parents, NO they are not! Drugs do not unwind you, they destroy you!
It is also the case that many families who belong to various religious denominations are also abusing drugs to the detriment not only of their own health but the well being of their families and community. As they soon lose perspective and forget the Commandments of God as their entire bodies scream out for their next fix.
Whether you come from a religious background or non-religious, a rock star or a media star when you take illicit drugs you are breaking the law of the land. What kind of an example are you providing for your children? A case of do as I say, not as I do, it is the height of hypocrisy and once more your children will recognise it as such.
Drugs are an insidious evil which permeates and then destroys all those around you, including yourself. There is no such thing as a 'good illicit drug' there is also no such thing as a 'harmless drug' when the main issue of taking them remains. There is no escaping the world you live in or the environment you have created, drugs are not the answer to deep seated problems, which is the inability to cope with your daily demands.
Though the world is stressful the answer of how to deal with these stresses lay not in doping them out but in facing them and then overcoming your problems with daily prayer. It is prayer that will strengthen you and help you overcome that unhappiness that is eating at your inner core. When we forget to pray we soon stop frequenting Mass which leads to a downward spiral of isolation and then desolation.
In order to overcome this compulsion and seduction of the senses it is necessary to recognise the spirit guiding this insidious attack on the family. Many medical doctors only deal with the cure and not the cause, there are not to many medical parishioners who are knowledgeable about the spiritual aspect of our inner beings. Yet this is the very reason most people take drugs, in that many people feel an emptiness and fail to understand that this inner emptiness and loneliness lay in a longing for God and not the mind altering drugs that have become so prevalent. Until people acknowledge their own inner poverty and that we cannot be all things to all people the transitory feelings of euphoria which drugs provide will always be the prostitute of what is truly lacking, a relationship with the Triune Spirit.
There is no substitute that can provide the peace that Christ speaks of, and it is this very peace that the soul longs and yearns for. In order to have this peace we need to seek God with all our hearts and not to substitute this longing by using drugs which will become a 'god' to the soul that is caught in its vicious grasp.
No parent wants to harm their children, yet that is exactly what they do when they embark on this emotional rollercoaster of the drug induced state. If you are taking drugs, then please seek out a doctor for help to overcome your addiction but the most crucial aspect, seek God and restore your relationship with the one Being who loves you above all others, which is your Heavenly Father. The soul needs more than a rehabilitation program in order to gain peace of heart and that inner contentment that can only be found in the Triune Spirit. Think not of the deeds you have done or that your behavior can never be forgiven. Trust in Jesus to restore the relationship that has been broken by sin, through the Sacraments of the Church.
"Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet". Divine Mercy.
Peace of Christ to ALL
Copyright © 2005 Marie Smith. All rights reserved.
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