My friend was telling me about a friend we both had back in junior high. Apparently the guy’s father died sometime recently in a homeless shelter after having his life completely fall apart with an addiction to painkillers. The man used to live in affluent suburb like Northbrook and to end up losing all his money to that addiction, losing his job, his family… it’s just so incredibly sad. One of his only belongings was a very old picture of his son’s junior high birthday party with his family, and my friend. That picture was a reminder of his treasures as he still valued his family so much but he just couldn’t express his love anymore.
I write this because it breaks my heart. Was he to blame because he got addicted to drugs he was given for his pain? Maybe partly but I can’t say I understand. It’s things like this that remind me we need to help each other because our lives really are so fragile. We really control so little of our lives, how much more we should take any blessing we have and cherish it while we still have it. Because I understand today will be gone, as will tomorrow will be, and I will be too.
