Trajectory

     A former student died the other day. He overdosed. Nothing makes me sadder than hearing negative news like that. My peers would say he got what he deserved. I say no one deserves to be so enslaved to something as harmful as that. I understand he made certain choices, but I don't think it was really him making the choice. It was the thirst for drugs that consumed him much like gambling for others or drinking or any other kind of addiction.  Even like lying or stealing or bullying.

    Maybe you don't feel compassion for an addict. I do and I'll tell you why, because there but for the grace of God goes I. I could have so easily gone down that road but thankfully I didn't. I made different choices than my student. But that doesn't make me better than he. I'm grateful for the choices I made. My senior year in high school, my life could've taken that turn. I was one choice away from that path. My last year in high school I moved in a fugue. I wasn't sure who I was,  but I knew I wanted to leave my living environment. I wanted to escape. I needed to escape. I was adrift in a sea of depression and I couldn't move.  Thank God for college. When I left my life there, I never looked back.   

    But some kids weren't as fortunate as I.  They were more poplar, more sociable, more daring than I. The one thing I had going for me was a strong desire to escape. After I left. my past caught up to me. As painful as it was at the time, it was the best thing for me. I went face-to-face with my demons and survived.

   This blog post isn't about me, it's about us. All of us could've been like my student. Maybe we wouldn't have fallen for drugs, but we were one choice away from changing the trajectory of our lives. Just like my student.