Letter to the Editor

I am a 19-year-old man from Akwesasne who has been in a rehab 5 months now getting my life straightened out. There is one thing I wish to have announced to the community in which I grew up in and it is that when you use drugs or alcohol your hurting more than yourself. You’re actually hurting your family more than your hurting yourself. I know from personal experience. I have lied, stole, anything and everything that you could think of just to get high. I destroyed the bond that had grown between my family and myself. It got to the point that whenever I walked into my own parent’s house I was being watched at all times. At the time I was hurt but now I see that they were the ones really hurting watching their son that they raised, slowly killing himself. All the things that I loved and cared about growing up didn’t matter anymore. The son they watched play sports from four years old was now a lying, stealing drug addict with no care for himself or the people that raised him, so before you lie or steal from your parents think of all the hurt, the disappointment that they are going to feel when their son or daughter is lying and stealing. Just those feelings alone are enough to kill. The drugs or whatever it may be is not worth that look of disappointment. So take this advice I give I have been there. If you do have a problem with drugs or alcohol get the help that you need. It will not only benefit yourself but your family and that’s all that drugs, alcohol, lying and stealing gets you in life.

Thank you

Sincerely Keith Herne