Drugs and many tears

Today we had an almost-90 minute assembly with a guest speaker talking about his son's death from drug abuse. It was a bit overwhelming. The faculty wasn't very well prepared and at the end of the wrenching assembly, they dismissed everyone back to class. What the?? No follow up, no preparation for how to handle the fall-out back in class. So, I did my usual thing and asked questions, gave many hugs, and got everyone talking about what was most powerful. It wasn't the usual "Drugs are bad, don't do drugs." It was very powerful. Roger filmed footage of his son's calling hours, including many tight shots on the open casket and some zooms in on his son's face... Comparing how full of life he was in some photos to how still he was in death.

I feel kinda sorry for the students today. They have a lot of different pressures than I did in high school. I was worried about wearing the right colored tab Levi's (red tab, button fly, thank you very much). And I knew maybe four or five kids who smoked pot--everybody drank, but I didn't know anyone who snorted, shot up or took pills. I really believe more students today are using than not. And using prescription stuff, too. Although we do have the occasional case of kids snorting exlax thinking it's ecstasy. Perhaps learning to spell would help with that confusion??

Ah well, a rather draining day and more questions and concerns than answers. There's something very sad about Seniors in high school sobbing. One boy is a good two feet taller than me and I held him like a baby. They learned for today but what about for tomorrow?

What if this is as good as it gets?