We're still up to our knees, and the water is rising...

As nothing occurs in isolation, I must now revisit my earlier remarks on the drug den that has surfaced only four houses from where my parents live. My mother and I lapsed into a heated debate last night over the issue: our dialogue covered law and order, and living in fear, and the world of business, and ended with her telling me she did not want this problem in her neighbourhood, period. As we were ramping up our frustration, we noticed the story on the television of the two boys who were gunned down in their car Friday evening.

By now, you're aware of my description of the sewer of problems backwashing into the living room, which is the case here, but my wagging fingers and saying "I told you so!" doesn't do any of us much good. My mother is afraid, as are her neighbours - particularly those who felt the wrath of these "salespeople" due to mistaken identity - and they have every right to be. My fear is, when a misinformed public is afraid, and when that fear becomes anger, what consequences will ensue? Conversely, what does preaching love and compassion do, especially when someone is about to hurl a brick through your window?

I wish I could believe in the world ingrained in the general public - a world in which the police and the army are the force of good, in which criminals see the errors of their ways and seek to engage the community in a more constructive manner, in which justice is truly served - but, as you and I know painfully well, this is but a dream, played out on television as if genuine, its audience the victims of a scheme so grand as to be beyond anything fathomable. I could easily tell you I haven't the heart to hit my unsuspecting family and friends with the cold, hard reality, but leaving them in the dream world is a far worse fate, especially when said cold, hard reality knocks the wind out of them by surprise, as is the case with this neighbourhood drug den. The alternative, however, means shattering the world as our loved ones know it, which may very well result in either wholesale denial or crippling despair. For instance, try telling your mother that narcotics are a market-driven commodity over which wars at all levels, from gun battles between rival gangs to "search and destroy" exercises by large armies; that Drug Tsars operate legally under the auspices of the "pharmaceutical industry"; that the police crack down on these narcotics hubs to put on a show for the cameras before returning these commodities to the marketplace; that justice is awarded to the highest bidder; that a company like Disney, purveyor of wholesome family imagery, is a multi-billion-dollar baron of propaganda for the Empire of Plenty, feeding pro-war messages into the minds of the unsuspecting proletariat; that we are being programmed to fall in line through our electronic and printed media, and that this happens via peripheral persuasion, far beyond the reaches of our awareness? Does it sound like some extravagant conspiracy theory to you? If you place yourselves in the role of John & Jane Q. Surburbanite Taxpaying Consumer, it sure does, only because the masters of this mayhem have fashioned themselves such clever masks, it is nearly impossible for anyone innundated with bills and personal strife to pay any attention to the machinery at work.

I'll come down from my soapbox now. Frankly, I'm tired of preaching, for what good has it done? Raised awareness? That's only the first step, and without the necessary faith to do something about it, this awareness will only destroy our collective heart. So, what is to be done? What do we do when we see a group of young boys stomping the daylights out of some kid, or when he hear of a young man walk up to a car at a stoplight and blast two boys in the front seat to the land of oblivion? Is it as simple as saying "all we need is love"? Mind you, it's not an incorrect assertion; it just doesn't sound all that practical in its form.

So, how do love and respect rule the day? We can't seem to find it in the penal system, nor in the business world. So, what do we do? How do we reach out to would-be felons? How do we teach the community to be not afraid, that their fear is what keeps the status quo what it is, that evil will previal so long as we remain fearful?

My mother says I always focus on the negative, and that I ought to see the positive side of life. In my defense, I tell her I point out all this negativity because we're all of us immersed in it, and that denial of its existence is not the path to happiness. We can coat this mess in as much sugar as we want to drown out the taste, but we're still ingesting it nonetheless. "Negativity" is not highlighting society's ills; negativity is believing ourselves powerless against them. Salvation will only be achieved when we accept the world for what it is, for only then will we be able to do anything.

The question remains: what do we do?