Pubdate: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 Source: High Point Enterprise (NC) Copyright: 2003 High Point (N.C.) Enterprise Contact: http://www.hpe.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/576 Author: Arthur Lyon DRUGS DEAL REAL DESTRUCTION I first saw Johnny sitting on the corner of Hillcrest Drive and Totera Place. He looked both hungry and hopeless as he gazed out into space. I was on my way to Cloverleaf to get some pimento spread. On my way home, I passed him again. His position and countenance had not changed, as though he was etched in stone. I proceeded home, with a real uneasiness. I returned to the corner to find a wary Johnny starting up Hillcrest on the other side of the street. I called out to him and he pretended not to hear me. I told him that I was not a policeman, that I only wanted to help him. He came over to my car. I asked him how long it had been since he had anything to eat. "Five days," he replied. Obviously, my first step was to feed him. As we lunched, he told me the quite common circumstances of the dysfunctional family he grew up in. Having been a volunteer drug counselor for more than 30 years, none of this was new to me. I took him to several locations to recover his belongings. I recall some were behind a garage on Westwood and others were in a house on Long Street. I took him to the House of Prayer and placed him in the capable hands of Dan Rominger, director. While getting him settled in his room, I discovered that he had paid for a Bible study course and was actively participating. This was so encouraging to me, for at least he was struggling with his problem. On my way home, I recalled what he had told me; that he had smoked $7,500 worth of crack that week, supported by his housebreaking activities and pawnshop deliveries. In fact, he was reconnoitering the house on the corner, my neighbor, when I intervened in his plans. After one week as a model client, the police dragged him off in handcuffs, undoing in five minutes the groundwork of a fruitful week. After a two-year stint in prison as punishment, with no attempt at rehabilitation, he was dumped like trash into the mainstream with no support or compassion. This man, as an 8-year-old child, came to believe in the existence of a heavenly father as he slept in a snowbank without a coat. On his exit from prison, he showed up at my front door, at Christmas time. Destitute, hungry, without a coat, hopeless and helpless. Jesus said, "When you don't help the helpless or provide hope to the hopeless, it's just like you did it to me." George Bush invokes God's name as he seeks the "weapons of mass destruction." Which are greater weapons of destruction, those that Bush seeks or the drugs in our society that destroy as many lives daily as those lost on 9-11? I believe that one-fifth of the money used to defeat Saddam could have been spent more effectively to remove the scourge of criminality at home brought on by greed and its accompanying drug dependency. ARTHUR LYON Totera Place - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman