03 March, 2017

God's Hands and a Heroin Overdose

I'm haunted and so I write.....

Monday night Boss came home from work; I was busy and couldn't talk. (Yes Mama guilt, but hang tight that will be replaced by Mama pride). Tuesday morning as William was leaving for school he asked, "Did you hear about the person who died in Christopher's arms yesterday?" Of course he said this as he was walking out the door; thank goodness Chris was home to fill me in.....(I'm adding some of the details I learned later from Boss himself)

Boss works at Norton Audubon Hospital as a valet. Monday afternoon a car came flying up the wrong way. The valets scrambled (I assume to keep an accident from happening, and I assume annoyed...). Boss ran over to the car where an older couple was shouting and pointing to the backseat. There was a young man in the car convulsing. The couple didn't know him but had found him on the side of the road, and they just couldn't not stop. (Remind you of the Good Samaritan?)  Boss opened the door and gently lifted the man out. He was covered in vomit and diarrhea. Boss held the man in his arms and he stopped convulsing. "We think he's overdosing," the couple declared. Boss turned and ran towards the ER where he was met by a physician who grabbed the man's arm and said, "No pulse." Boss gently laid the man down and went back to work.  The next day Boss went into find out what happened, actually pretty much already knowing but needing to know for certain. The man was 21 and it was a heroin overdose; he didn't make it.

If I'm honest, I want Boss to process this with me more. I'm worried about how it has impacted him; perhaps because it has impacted me so profoundly. I was immediately reminded of another time, at another hospital where a young man was overdosing. I wrote about that too....Boots on the Ground Ministry. I remembered how coldly that young man was greeted and treated by the EMT, and I still shudder recalling the event. I remember trying to understand how he could be so cold and uncaring--trying to rationalize it. Today I think about both those boys and the mamas who love them. I have no idea if the young man on Monday was estranged from his family; I have no idea what his relationship with his mama is, but I am a mama to 2 sons close to the age (as well as 2 daughters). I think about no matter how old they get, how much bigger they are than me, they are still my babies and they are still beloved children of God. I think about how gently I held my babies and I hope that mama knows her son was held gently. I wish I could tell her he was.

That young man regardless of how he got to the point of Monday is a child of God. I hope he died knowing someone held him in his arms that cared. I hope he died knowing someone held him that recognized his personhood. I hope he died knowing there were 3 people (the couple and my son) who respected his dignity and knew he had worth. I hope he died knowing in that brief moment he was loved--not in the hallmark mushy love but as the conduits of the love of God kind of love. And I hope that young man is at peace.

This Lent I am following SSJE's 5 marks of love (5 Marks of Love) Today the question asked was, "How are you going to be God's hands in the world today?"

There are no shortages of opportunities; it's how we respond to them that matters....

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