Be a Helping Hand in the Light
October 21, 2022
YOUN CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
This week I would like to highlight two easy things we all could do to let our voice be heard regarding addiction and make a difference.
Next week—October 23rd to October 31st—is Red Ribbon Week. Red Ribbon week is a response to the murder of DEA Agent Enrique Camarena, angered parents and youth in communities across the country began wearing Red Ribbons as a symbol of their commitment to raise awareness of the killing and destruction caused by drugs in America.
Enrique (Kiki) Camarena was a Drug Enforcement Administration Agent who was tortured and killed in Mexico in 1985. When he decided to join the US Drug Enforcement Administration, his mother tried to talk him out of it. “I’m only one person”, he told her, “but I want to make a difference.”
On Feb. 7, 1985, the 37-year-old Camarena left his office to meet his wife for lunch. Five men appeared at the agent’s side and shoved him in a car. One month later, Camarena’s body was found. He had been tortured to death.
In honor of Camarena’s memory and his battle against illegal drugs, friends and neighbors began to wear red badges of satin. Parents, sick of the destruction of alcohol and other drugs, had begun forming coalitions. Some of these new coalitions took Camarena as their model and embraced his belief that one person can make a difference. These coalitions also adopted the symbol of Camarena’s memory, the red ribbon.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
This years Red Ribbon theme is Celebrate Life. Live Drug Free.™. I love that theme “CELEBRATE LIFE DRUG FREE.” To every addicted individual, to every caring loved one trying to influence the one they care about to be well, I shout as
loud as I can “IT IS POSSIBLE TO LIVE DRUG FREE!” This years theme was created by Emily King, Chelsea Abbott, and Celise Wicker, 7th graders at Wayland-Cohocton Middle School in Wayland, New York, the Theme is a reminder that everyday Americans across the country make significant daily contributions to their communities by being the best they can be because they live Drug-Free! Here is the link to be a part of creating next years theme, Enter the 2023 Red Ribbon Week Theme Contest . What a great project to introduce to your children, classroom if you are a teacher, or Sunday School class.
Another way to participate is to find out if your local schools are taking part and see if you can help. Maybe they are not, it’s a wonderful chance to see if you can get the program started in your community for 2023. We can also decide to simply wear a red ribbon, or a red wrist band as a public stand to “Celebrate Life Drug Free!”
THERE’S A DEALER HIDING IN YOUR HOME
Most kids start their experience with opioids in a familiar place. The medicine cabinet of their home or the home of a trusted friend or loved one. Far to often long forgotten prescription meds lie dormant in our medicine cabinets just waiting to be found. Often our children do find them, and end up on a journey down a road they never wanted. Some times that journey ends up in places they did not want to go, death. Last year for over 107,000 Americans that’s were the road ended. You can listen to Matas story about where that journey brought her here .
You can do your part by cleaning out your medicine cabinet of old unused prescriptions and bringing them to a local, no questions asked, dropbox. Check with your local Police or Town officials to see where they are in your community. You can also visit the DEA site to use their locator https://www.dea.gov/takebackday . The DEA’s National Take Back Day started on September 25, 2010. results from April 2022 Take Back Day were astounding:
April 2022
Total Law Enforcement Participation: 4,427.
Total Collection Sites: 5,144.
Total Weight Collected: 721,093 lbs. ( 360 Tons)
Total Weight All Time: 15,989,566 lbs. ( 7,995 Tons)
We can make the October Take Back Day even better.
WHAT YOU DO MATTERS
Officers Camarena’s statement to his mom should be the clarion cry to all of us: “but I want to make a difference.”
We Can!
This weeks featured image is by Brooke Shaden called “Hand in the Light”
Very beautifully said and written my love.