I spent a great deal of time watching TV today. This afternoon, more Milton Creagh, this time talking to business leaders in our community. He talked of drugs in the workplace. The USA has 4.5 - 5 % of the world's population yet we use 65% of the drugs made worldwide. Businesses who are looking to locate in an area now do studies on the potential workforce, trying to determine what % can pass a drug test. This is a people problem not just teaching kids to Just Say No.
Later on, Entertainment Tonight was talking yet again, about Anna Nicole Smith and how her drug use and example had affected her son. Would he still have be alive, had she been a different kind of role model. Have heard that in her private diaries, she recounted partying with her mother. Could her life have been spared had her mother been a role model?
After ET, it was the last of 10 apperances in 2 days for Mr Creagh. His message was simple.
The Government can fix it.
The Governor can't fix it.
The Mayor can't fix it.
We the people. We are the only ones who can fix it. We who are involved with each other. The people who have been intrusted to us. Whether by blood or circumstance. It is up to each of us. So, what are you going to do?
It's not just about drugs. Chris Hansen from Dateline's To Catch A Predator has been making the talk show rounds and says the single most important thing a parent can do to protect their children from on-line predators is to put the computer in a common room where there is no privacy and to limit time spent on the computer. I don't know if that is possible in most homes but here's what I think. We have to lead, whether by example or actions.
So, what are you going to do? There is no pat answer. There is no one size fits all nor an instant cure. Its about leading, its about being involved wherever your season of life is. If you are around kids, start there. If teens fill your home, start there. If you have a family, start there.
So, what am I going to do? I have my family, I will start there. I have friends, I will start there. To the ones sent my way, I will start there. And that my friends, is all I really know...
So, what am I going to do?
