Across the country this week, communities held candlelit vigils to remember and pray for those who are suffering under the yoke of drug addiction. Traditionally, October is celebrated as drug awareness month as schools around the country boast red ribbons to proclaim their refusal to use drugs. Many lives have been tragically destroyed or lost to substance abuse and the disease of addiction. Too often, this disease is perceived as deserved and shameful, leaving families and friends to grieve in silence or an addict struggling to recover, alone.
At many vigils, memorial walls will show hundreds of photos of local victims, just a handful of the 28,000 people who die every year of drug overdoses.
The vigils strive to raise awareness and open the doors to recovery by eliminating the prejudice that has followed the disease of addiction; a disease that shows no prejudice to any walk of life or background. With the removal of shame comes the hope for survival. Acceptance of the disease can be humbling to the soul, and, in turn, empowering to those in need, to seek help.
Ultimately, by eliminating the prejudice, the tragic loss of life from drug and alcohol related deaths will diminish. The memory of our children, our relatives and our friends, who have passed, will live on in our hearts, forever honored and memorialized. May the dreams they had and the lives they lived be remembered always, and may each heart and soul they have touched, though forever changed, be healed.
You are invited to attend the virtual vigil by lighting a candle in memory of a loved one lost to drug and alcohol related incidents or to anonymously honor a friend suffering from addiction at http://www.nopetaskforce.org/vigil_candle.asp
