My Grandparents’ Drug Problem

I was going through some things that my grandmother – Medora III – had sent me.  She is a prolific newspaper clipper and I have a sizeable file of articles, columns, etc. that she has sent me through the years. The one I want to share with you is one she sent about the drug problem of her generation.  I’ve seen it floating around on the internet, but I don’t know whom to credit.

“The other day, someone at a store in our town read that a Methamphetamine lab had been found in an old farmhouse in the adjoining county and he asked me a rhetorical question, ‘Why didn’t we have a drug problem when you and I were growing up?’

I replied, I had a drug problem when I was young: I was drug to church on Sunday morning.  I was drug to church for weddings and funerals.  I was drug to family reunions and community socials no matter the weather.

I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful to adults.  I was drug to the woodshed when I disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spoke ill of the teacher or the preacher or if I didn’t put forth my best effort in everything that was asked of me.

I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth washed out with soap if it uttered a profanity.  I was drug out to pull weeds in mom’s garden and flower beds and cockleburs out of dad’s fields.  I was drug to the homes of family, friends and neighbors to help out some poor soul who had no one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline, or chop some firewood. And, if my mother had ever known that I took a single dime as a tip for this kindness, she would have drug me back to the woodshed.

Those drugs are still in my veins and they affect my behavior in everything I do, say or think.  They are stronger than cocaine, crack or heroin.  And, if today’s children had this kind of drug problem, America would be a better place.  God bless the parents who drugged us.”

Her handwritten comment to this article said, “This is how my generation was raised.” Is it any wonder that her generation has been dubbed by historians as the “Greatest Generation?” In my own lifetime, my encounters with the majority of folks from her generation have, indeed, lived up to that title.  My question for today’s parents is this: Are you raising your child(ren)  to have the same drug problem?