Commentaries by Cynthia

I’m not sure about other areas of the world, but alcohol and drug abuse are very prevalent in my part of the state. And it is my natural nature to question… why?

As I ask this, I am reminded of another John Lennon quote: “The basic thing nobody asks is why do people take drugs of any sort? Why do we have these accessories to normal living to live? I mean, is there something wrong with society that's making us so pressurized, that we cannot live without guarding ourselves against it?”

In the last decade, citizens in my area have watched helplessly as factory after factory has closed their doors and relocated their operations to third-world countries where companies pay very scant wages and offer no benefits to it workers. And new jobs aren’t coming in to replace the ones that left, so people find themselves working at big-box stores or in fast food restaurants, which rarely pay sustaining wages or offer benefits for the worker or their family. Perhaps some of these people turn to other substances to help numb the pain for all the losses they’ve suffered. It’s very hard to watch a once-growing area reduced to empty factory buildings, warehouses and vacant store fronts. And then these misplaced workers have to face the same people who caused these losses – people who often point their finger at them and say… “Get a job. Get health insurance. Get a retirement plan. If you’re living in poverty, it’s your own damn fault.”

Before I digress much more, let me get back to the topic of drug and alcohol abuse. In a previous post, I made some almost-harsh comments about alcoholism. Then I recalled the near-death experience story by Betty J. Eadie in which she was in heaven and was shown the world below from God’s perspective.

The spirit guides that Betty met took her to a street corner in a city where a drunkard was laying in his own filth. Betty remembered making a negative and judgmental comment about the man. Then the spirit guides showed her the Higher Perspective by showing her the man’s soul and his soul mission (and yes, we all have at least one.) His soul was filled with a very bright light, and even Betty admitted that his soul was far brighter than her own. In the spirit world, this man was considered a teacher and was highly respected as an evolved soul. But he had come to this lifetime, knowing that he would become an alcoholic for the soul purpose of teaching the lesson of compassion to a lawyer who would step over the man everyday on his way to the office. Eventually, the lawyer would begin to ponder this man’s condition and what led him to the gutter. The lawyer would begin to realize how blessed he was in his own life and would begin to feel compassion instead of apathy or disdain for the man on the street.

So we, in our human perception may see one thing. But God may very well see something else. Perhaps this is a lesson for all of us to become less judgmental in our perceptions of others. After all, we’re just humans. What do any of us really know, anyway?