Bondage

Last night while leaving a restaurant in Salt Lake, a young man in his early twenties approached Kev desperately asking for money. It was clearly obvious that he was a homeless drug addict as the affects of a hard life were grossly apparent in his appearance. My heart broke for him. I can only imagine the pain and feelings of utter bondage to an addiction that has taken away his freedom, his joy, and will eventually take his life.  He is a complete slave to a substance that is destroying him.

I was grateful that Kev, even knowing that it would go to drugs, willingly gave him money. Withholding money and therefore withholding drugs wouldn't help this young man at that moment. Seeing the pain that he was obviously in, I was at least grateful that he could get a hit of drugs and feel some escape for even just an hour or two. For me, that seemed like the kindest thing we could do.

What I take from this is that I want to do what little I can do to offer a better way of living. To warn people of the devastation of the use of mind altering substances that can lead to addiction. To create a world where we can find true, long lasting joy and happiness and comfort when in pain that doesn't come from a bottle or needle.

It was interesting to me that after seeing that young man and still feeling a small portion of his pain, that this morning I would read in scriptures about bondage and how to stay out of it. Prevention is key.

PS Be careful about doing a google image search for the word "bondage"