LIVES OUT OF TUNE

I was disturbed by the last two ad hominim attacks Bud Howell launched
against Vice Mayor Mumpower's refusal to be complacent about the
local, open-air, hard-drug market. And, contrary to the claims of your
out-of-state readers, there's more to drug culture than feeling good.
While recreational users who can still hold down jobs and read
newspapers haven't crossed that line, we mustn't forget the less
fortunate among us who have or could.

Insatiable demons torment the addictive mind. Basic skills of coping,
planning and working toward goals are never learned, as the seductive
option of escape is always beckoning. Hours pile up into years of lost
opportunities. When it's feeding time for the inner demons, we'd sell
anything to put the fire out. We pull our families, friends and
neighbors down as we lie, cheat and steal to support our habits.
Exhausting all support systems, many of us will turn to the streets,
selling our souls for a life of crime.

When I hear arguments for protecting the local hard-drug trade, it often
sounds like those inner demons are at it again, defending their hard-won
turf. By encouraging citizens to elect groovy leaders who silently nod as
troubled people stuff their emptiness with soul-destroying substances, we
are incontrovertibly paving pathways toward homelessness, prostitution,
theft, dependence on welfare, and other "social problems." Whether we
support a government that treats symptoms or root causes is our choice. The
former brings to mind the words of poetess Myra B. Welch:

"And many a man with life out of tune, ...

Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd ... ."

Leslee Kulba

Asheville