I drove over to Charlie’s Truck Stop this past week to pick up a few slices of Jake’s thick cut cheese for sandwiches. I also had it in mind to get some fresh cut pork chops and other things I’ve been running low on. I parked in front of the gas pumps and Jake came bouncing out to ask if I needed gas, so I told him to fill ‘er up. The Reverend Johnson was sitting on one of the long wooden benches that are positioned on either side of the front door. The Reverend and Arnold Suggs were enjoying the nice spring weather. Jake and I talked about the price of gas while he filled my car, then I paid for the gas and told Jake I would be inside later to get the things I came for. I moved my car out from in front of the pumps and parked to the side of the store. As I came back to the front door, the Reverend asked how the old car was coming on.

I’ve been keeping close check on the car since I had it up to Ricki Hall’s place for service last week. The radiator had been dripping all winter and I had spent more money than I wanted trying to have it fixed. I finally tired of messing with it and took the car to Lisa Hall’s husband and told him to drop in a new radiator while he was doing a general maintenance job on the car. In the week since I’ve been looking close and have not seen a single drop fall onto the ground under the car. I’m beginning to think Ricki did a good job. The Reverend insisted Ricki has a good reputation around these parts. He also has a reputation for charging a good price, but I thought the price he charged me was reasonable enough.

There has been some talk this past week of a big drug bust to the south of Corinth and I asked Arnold if he was involved in rounding up the drug dealers. Arnold is a local deputy and a good cop from all accounts. Arnold shook his head and said the rumors were out of place. There have been a few minor arrests for possession, but no major operations. It is likely someone heard something from someone else and the story just started to grow out of proportion. Arnold doesn’t have much use for drug peddlers or their fellow travelers. He has seen far too many lives ruined by drugs to have any sympathy for the traffic. On the other hand, his experience has taught him a few things about drug addicts. There was an ad campaign put out a few months ago by a government agency in an attempt to discourage drug use among teenagers. The upshot of one of the ads was two high school kids were being compared. One of the kids had some ambition and planned to make a success of his life. The second kid was content to sit out beside the trash container and smoke his dope. The suggestion of the ad campaign was that the drug use was what made the difference in the two kids.

Arnold thinks it works the other way around. Arnold is of the opinion that people who are the sort to make something of their lives are not the kind of people who are going to be interested in using drugs. These people have too many important things to do with their time. Drug addicts, on the other hand, would likely be worthless even if drugs did not exist. These people would still pass their time sitting out beside the trash container. The drugs do not cause the losers to waste their lives. The drugs are just an indication of a deeper problem.

The Reverend has had some experience with addicts from his position as pastor of several churches over his life. He has counseled with people who have let their lives go to ruin over drug use. It has been his experience that anyone aspiring to get off drug addiction has to find a goal in his life before he is going to kick the habit. The Reverend makes the comparison to life with the field across the railroad tracks. It is coming on spring now and the farmer who owns that field is going to be coming with a tractor and plow to turn the ground. There are two options available. Once the ground is turned, the farmer can plant something, probably corn or cotton or soy beans. Whatever he plants will grow over the summer and, with care, be ready for harvesting in the fall. On the other hand, should the farmer for some reason neglect to plant his field, nothing useful will sprout on its own and the field will be overgrown with weeds.

All of the people the Reverend has counseled have required the replacement in their lives of something worthwhile before they can kick the addiction. Anyone who came to the Reverend for assistance was like the freshly plowed field. They had to plant something in their lives that would grow to maturity and be worth the harvest, else they were like the field in which nothing was planted and was retaken by the weeds. They fell back on their addiction.

The Reverend said his heart has been broken many times by good and kind persons who had all the promise in the world of attaining success in life, but they did not have the courage to make the decisions required to turn their lives around. One special case stands out in his mind of a pretty little girl who had a child while she was still in school. Although she dropped out of school with the baby, she later returned to get her diploma. She said she had the ambition to get out of the poor backwater where she was born and to make something of herself. But the woman was an addict and her child followed in her footsteps. The child died of an overdose while still in school and the mother made a promise to change her own life around and join a campaign to warn other young people against using drugs. But the mother never made good on her promise and fell back into the life from which she had said she wanted to escape. It was a sad situation. The pity is it is impossible to help a person who does not want to be helped. I knew what the Reverend was talking about. I had known of a similar situation myself once.

Arnold looked at his watch and said it was time for him to be at work. He climbed into his car and drove off.

END