5 minute freewrite 2317 prompt don’t protect him
This is my post for #freewriters 2317 prompt don’t protect him hosted by @mariannewest
I see all these young people on the streets, sleeping under bridges, along the shoreline, and even in the woods. The police chase them from, their homes, yes these places are their homes. I see them as someone's child, somewhere there is a mother who is having sleepless nights because she does not know how or where her child is. She does not know if they have had anything to eat or if they are being abused.
When one does come home, everyone in the family tells the mother, don't protect him, he is a no good druggie, but the mother still sees her child, and her heart will not let her put them back on the street.
People will call the mother an enabler but slowly she is seeing a change in her child, she sees the way they once were peeking through and sees weight being put back on him, and she knows her child is still there, the drugs have not won, love will win, only God and the mother know this.
One day my husband was on the preserve that runs behind our home and he saw a trail that looked well used, he followed it and came to a homeless camp. He was upset at the mess they had lying around. He says if they would not leave messes like this, maybe they would not get thrown out of everywhere they set up camp. I could not argue with his way of thinking, it is a mess but no one else can see it. We decided to leave it alone and not report them being there because it is well off the beaten path and they have not bothered us.
photo is mine
I am that mother! I think of the mothers whenever I see someone in this kind of trouble too. But are they in trouble? This is what I struggle with now - is their way of life worse than my own? It's judgmental to think so. Some of them are happier living that way than they would be if they had houses, jobs, bills, insurance, repairs and relatives.
They might not think they are in trouble and maybe they are happy with the way they live and the things they do, but I was talking about how their mother feels and how others talk about them to her. I am also that mother and have spent many nights crying myself to sleep. I am sorry to hear that you also experienced this and from one mother to another, I feel your pain.
I love your spirit of tolerance and compassion!
For a mother to know her child is homeless -
In "Breaking Bad," Jesse's parents kept telling him he couldn't come home due to his drug habits ("you'll corrupt your little brother").
In real life, I've known parents who allowed their brilliant, talented, and gifted son to do time in jail for his drug addiction, which began during his freshman year at Vanderbilt (he squandered a full ride). Twice the guy OD'd and had to be revived with Narcan. Now he's married and working full time and playing jazz gigs with an indie band that's building a reputation.
Twice, he was clinically dead. Twice, he revived.
My heart aches for all the mothers whose children did not make it....
Thanks for this post, @myjob, and @owasco for reblogging it!
Thank you, I would say it comes from having a child who has lived this way but I was like this when mine were very young, I just feel it more now.
A few days ago my son was on the river shore and saw a young man who had Overdosed, he said he was giving him CPR and someone came with the Narcan thing and gave it to him but he did not come around, he kept giving CPR until the ambulance arrived. The next day he called the hospital to check on him but they would not tell him anything, but they told him that no one around that age had passed away. My heart goes out to his parents, especially his mother.
Your son, giving CPR to a stranger, an overdose victim - God bless him!
And no deaths in that age group reported, so chances are good, your son saved that man's life.
Your family is awesome. You know that. :)
Thank you for saying that but I think it is something anyone would have done. Don't get me wrong, I am very proud of him, my family is not any different than most families, it is just so many of us and something is always going on.
I am giving you both a supportive hug in the spirit, @myjob and @owasco ... praying your children come all the way home...
Thank you @deeanndmathews
Were I living in the woods, I want to think I would be living closer to the camper ethos of leave no trace, pack it in, pack it out.
I do not think the homeless would be asked to move if they kept the places cleaner and when they move, it is terrible with the things they leave behind. Not all of them are this way but they ruin it for the others.