I made faces at one of my clients in court today. And he made faces back at me. Of course he is about eighteen months old so I suppose he had a good excuse. He had a choke-hold on sponge-bob square pants with one chubby little hand, waving him around with delight and yelling out "Bob" "Bob". Of course that made me laugh. Like the rest of him his blond hair would not behave, especially in the back where it couldn't decide where it wanted to lie, something I could relate to. So naturally, I made faces at him and he responded admirably in a like manner.
It is not going to make one bit of difference to my blond haired buddy whether our roads are in perfect condition, free of all pot-holes or whether our legislature or courts have new buildings to occupy. I doubt whether it is going to make his life better if we pursue military actions in the middle east, or anywhere else in the world right now.
You see, my young friend's parents are addicted to drugs. They did not even show up for court today. But he is luckier than some. He has a loving relative that is going to take care of him. Too many don't.
Like another of my clients today, a little girl even younger than sponge bob's friend. She will never know her brother, who would have been just a little bit older than her. He died at birth due to problems caused by his parents' drug habits. She lives in a foster home. But at least she is alive.
I was involved in two more similar cases today. And those are just the ones I was involved in.
For those of you who don't know, I don't practice in Los Angeles or New York, or even Birmingham, if I can help it.
This stuff happens every day of every week in Blount County, Alabama. Hundreds, maybe thousands of children are hurting from neglect and abuse because their parents are addicted to drugs, primarily methamphetamine.
It would be nice if we decided to do something about it out of a sense of morality or spirituality.
But for some reason we haven't.
So let's take a different approach.
Addiction to drugs, particularly meth, costs us a boatload of money. Law enforcement must not only enforce the drug laws, they are also called on to handle the domestic violence cases, the assault cases, the sexual violence cases, the theft and robbery cases and the murders which have drug addiction at their core.
Our court system is dominated by cases involving drugs in one form or another. Our health providers, both physical and mental, must deal with the ravages of drug addiction both on the parents and their children, often being paid out of the public coffers. Our education system must deal with the children who are handicapped by their parents' drug addictions. Our labor force is weakened by addiction. Our crime rate is multiplied by addiction. And now with meth labs springing up as a major cottage industry, environmental clean-up costs will keep going up. Our property values go down. Our tax base goes down. Our opportunities for economic development are lessened.
That being the case, surely our governments have a plan.
No they don't. I haven't asked them to make one, have you?
But that pot-hole crisis is under control. Roads are being paved and widened, new government buildings are being planned, and our interests in Iraq and Afghanistan will protected, cost be damned. Thank God. A smooth, cheap ride is important after all.
I am sure we'll get around to addressing our own human crisis when we can afford it, but until then, children be damned.
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