Trying to articulate a simple,
single philosophy that addresses all the issues posed by drug
and alcohol use in our world, and reduces its implications for
our families, is a lot like trying to take a picture of 6 billion
people, all at once:
It's hard to fit everyone into
the same shot.
The fact is that any response
we try -- either in society as a whole or in our individual families,
that has any real chance of preventing drug abuse or reducing
its toll, has to address a shifting, complex web of factors,
including the spiritual and psychological needs that have driven
substance use in human beings through the ages, as well as the
medical, legal, social, and ethical questions that derive from
it.
It's only possible to skim the
surface of such complex and diverse issues in as short a handbook
as this.
Still, we hope we've given you
an expanded perspective -- including some of the social and cultural
factors that shape us all -- in which to create your own context
and clarify your own feelings for "drug-proofing" your
family.
We've suggested ways in which
your family can create its own processes and resources, and utilize
resources in your community, to help prevent or minimize substance
abuse by young people. We've discussed treatment options, because
even the best of intentions can't always hold back a flood.
And the personal and social forces
that propel drug abuse really can look like a flood sometimes,
when they don't actually seem more like a tidal wave.
But if we've pointed out nothing
else in this booklet, we hope we've pointed out that things aren't
always exactly the way they might seem.
Floods can't be stopped, but
their destructiveness can be contained, given high enough flood
walls and sufficient preparation. So, too, can the devastating
personal consequences of drug abuse, if we only have the courage
and the wisdom to respond before a crisis.
We haven't tried to answer all
the questions about drugs and alcohol and we hope we haven't
seemed to pretend that we have all the answers to all the questions
that confront all our families in this handbook. That's a study
that would take a lifetime and one that would fill libraries.
What we have tried to do is to
make you aware of some starting points, some places of departure,
from which you might be able to make your life, and the lives
of the individual members of your family, work a little better.
And if we've learned nothing
else along the way, we've learned that making our lives work,
and the lives of the people we care about, requires a big dose
of commitment from everyone involved.
We've taken on a big job as parents,
the biggest job there is, in fact: helping to shape the values
and visions and feelings and dreams of our children into those
of the men and women they will become.
It's a big job, but it's one
that's worth doing -- and worth doing well.
Because if we learn nothing more
in life than to accept and love ourselves and teach our children
to accept and love themselves and each other, our life's work
will always be complete and will never have an end. it will never
have an end.
