We little knew that morning
that God was going to call your name,
in life we loved you dearly; in death we do the same.
It broke our hearts to lose you, you did not go alone.
For part of us went with you, the day God called you home.
You left us peaceful memories, your love is still our guide,
and though we cannot see you, you are always at our side.
Our family chain is broken, and nothing seems the same,
But as God calls us one by one, the chain will link again.
Jordan would have turned 20 years old on Tuesday. Instead, His parents and grandparents had to bury him this morning. My son Jimmy befriended him in middle school, about 8 years ago. Jordan faced difficulties, as he had difficulty in school and a pretty bad stutter. I’m sure he was probably picked on as a youngster because of these issues. None of that stuff bothered Jimmy or his three other best friends. The five of them did everything together: basketball, baseball, football, and especially skate boarding. They were always skateboarding in the street in front of our house.
Jordan was a sweet lovable kid. He slept in our basement on our futon dozens of times over the years after playing video games til the wee hours of the morning. Despite his issues, he was on a solid path. He was a member of the junior ROTC during all four years in high school and dreamed of being a pilot. He was a volunteer member of the local fire department. He went on missions with other youth to feed the less fortunate. He graduated high school two years ago, along with my son and their friends. I remember my wife taking pictures of them in their caps and gowns. It was such a good day.
Jimmy and his other three friends went off to college. Jordan tried community college and then went to a technical school, getting certificates in welding. But he was still lost. He decided to move to Park City, Utah and work at a ski resort, living with another high school friend who had moved out there. Somehow he must have gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd and began taking drugs. He eventually realized he needed help and his parents put him in rehab.
He got out of rehab and moved back to PA. But it happened again. He fell in with the wrong crowd again. Jimmy and his friends saw Jordan a couple times this summer, but they didn’t like the people he was hanging with, so they didn’t interact with him much. Last week he overdosed on drugs. We all visited him in the ICU as a ventilator kept him alive. It was heartbreaking. He died a few days later.
No parent or grandparent should have to bury their only child and grandchild. The services this morning were excruciatingly sad. I don’t think I cried as much at my own father’s funeral. Seeing a 20 year old boy laying in a casket hurts me down deep. Four years ago this month my oldest son’s best friend Tyler died in a car accident at the age of 20. I hate to see my sons hurting like this at such a young age. Life can be so sad and unfair. Jordan lost his way and made some bad choices. We all do. I truly believe today’s society makes it very difficult for our kids to thrive and succeed in life. I think it is harder than when I was 20 years old.
My son and his friends are going to grieve for a long time. They are probably going to wonder whether they could have done something to save Jordan from his demons. His parents will wonder whether they were too tough on him. Everyone in that church wishes they could have done something to change what happened. But there is nothing we can do. It happened. And it will happen again to thousands of young people who get captured by addiction.
As we were pulling up to the church the song playing on the radio was The Kids Aren’t Alright by The Offspring. They aren’t alright. Something is terribly wrong with this country. Cheap easy to access drugs is destroying the lives of our kids. The sadness is overwhelming. Hug your kids and do everything you can to keep them on the right track. Rest in peace Jordan. We’ll never forget you. You were a good friend to Jimmy.
The old neighborhood was so alive
And every kid on the whole damn street
Was gonna make it big and not be beat
The kids are grown up but their lives are worn
How can one little street
Swallow so many lives
Nothing’s free
Longing for what used to be
Still it’s hard
Hard to see
Instead she…
Instead she dropped out and had a couple of kids
Mark still lives at home cause he’s got no job
He just plays guitar and smokes a lot of pot
Brandon OD’d and died
What the hell is going on
The cruelest dream, reality
I watched one of my best friends get buried at the age of 16 because of a stunt done with his car. I saw what it did to his parents.
So I was sitting with my son last night watching Hacksaw Ridge on Netflix. He just turned 16 and it is a good film for him to watch – it was graphic and showed the reality of combat. We talked about it a bit and finally I told him the real reason I don’t want him joining the military is because I don’t want to bury my one and only son. As a parent, having watched others go through it, I will say that is one of my biggest fears.
Love makes us vulnerable, that is for sure. My condolences to you and your son.
Condolences for your family’s loss, Admin. Through no fault of their own I lost my best friend at age 26 and then my younger brother at the young age of 30. I know that helpless pain you are feeling. I know my Dad never got over the pain of having one of his sons precede him in death. That, in itself, was gut wrenching. Only time will turn your pain into smiles when you recall Jordan. Peace.
my deepest condolences and prayers.
our culture is shit. our your is left without family,faith,or purpose.
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.
Mary Elizabeth Frye
An old friend of mine lost her only son at age 18 from a congenital heart defect. He’d had several surgeries, but they’d recently put in a pacemaker and they thought they had it licked. The doctors were wrong. He had just bought his suit for the senior prom. He was at a hotel room party watching movies with a few friends when he jumped up, yelled “Oh my God” and fell over dead. He was buried in the suit. His Mother was on anti-depressants for ten years after that. Losing a child is something you get through, but you never get OVER it.
There is a support group for parents who’ve lost a child. Any reason, any age. http://www.compassionatefriends.org
I am going to visit that site, KaD. It looks interesting.
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Your tax dollars at work.
What did Thomas Jefferson say about a standing military being the first and worst enemy of liberty?
Wasn’t it something about being the excuse needed to steal every citizen’s labor in the form of taxes to pay the parasitical class of people who don’t really want to work in peacetime. MIC, for someone who wondered here the other day, is Military Industrial Complex. They are drugging our children so as to continue to steal us all blind.
You can see by this photo $8.5 billon spent to eradicate poppy fields in Afghanistan in 2016 and this is the region responsible for 80% of the HERION in the world and their production estimates are up 20% and we have an epidemic of HERION use on the streets of America . Don’t believe me , I don’t care ! Fact Baltimore City will run out of Nar Cam OD med in or before mid August and no money till September to restock . I think there is a connection between the $8.5 billon and our streets littered with overdose victims . Yes I know self induced but somebody is getting rich off this fuck up , there can be no doubt !
Admin
I’m so sorry your family is having to endure this a second time.
I trust Jordan has found peace.
Buried my grandson two weeks ago. Age 22. Had been to rehab and clean for a year and a half. Going to school, working out, had a job and the nicest girl you can imagine. Found dead in his apartment, O.D. heroin. What demon got into his mind to cause him to give up this life? Only God knows, but he is dead and leaves several to grieve and wonder, myself included. Such a waste. I don’t curse the drug so much as the bastard who gave him the first hit.
So sorry about your grandson, I couldn’t even imagine. Just awful…
You couldn’t have picked a better song to describe this horrible reality. Love?
Damn ,alot of heartbreak in this sin cursed world.Hard to understand it sometimes.
” Life is suffering” – Buddha. Nothing worse than losing a child!
My Mother knew someone who lost all four of hers.
My condolences for your loss. I lost my best friend Greg at 15 when he and another friend were messing around with the friend’s 12 gauge and it went off in Greg’s face. I lost two friends that day because my buddy who pulled the trigger never got over it. I understand what that feeling of helplessness.
Those of you who were adults in the 80’s & early 90’s remember how coke and crack started flooding the social scene. And it’s been proved the CIA and DEA stood down while plane loads of drugs flowed in from down South. Weapons, ammo & explosives on one leg, drugs on the return trip.
We have the exact same thing happening now. Weapons, ammo & explosives on one leg, opium on the return trip.
Stood down? They HELPED get it in! http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/07/2012721152715628181.html
60,000 overdose deaths expected in the US this year. So sad.
Sorry for your loss, Admin.
Admin, sorry for your families loss.
I believe it was the Chinese that say ‘Some things in this life are worse than death.’ The loss of a child or grandchild would certainly be at the top of that list.
It is staggering that in America 10 kids an hour die of drug overdose. This suffering inflicted on the most innocent among us is demonic in it’s nature and only seems to be getting worse. Twain’s silent assertion comes to mind how everyone takes on a lie and nobody is willing to talk about it. Therefore it does not exist.
My son went through this 3 years ago and it did leave a mark. A kid from our old neighborhood where he grew up was found O D in the park. This was a kid who my son stopped hanging out with in high school when he started using hard drugs. The kid had a stay at home mom and should have never ended up dead.
I think the best you can do is hug your kids and tell them you love them every chance you get. Teach them no matter how dark it is there’s always a better choice than taking your own life. We will keep your son in our prayers.
Some things are worse than death. That is what leads people kill themselves with drugs. Drugs are always the symptom of something far worse.
The lack of balance and sanity in our culture is killing hundreds every day. There is no purpose, meaning, or joy for millions.
Please accept my condolences.
I am a mentor in my country and am always saddened to see kids continually fail in overcoming their addictions. It constantly amazes me to hear the innovating methods they use to find, mix, and imbibe chemicals; sometimes even sounding like actual pharmacists in the way they describe the various drugs and techniques. If only these energies could be redirected. If only….
I have a package of Spa-quality bath salts sent to me by a dear friend when I lost my beloved J-DAWG this past spring. I have not used them, simply enjoying the aroma of the unopened package on my nightstand. But, after my husband read me a particularly disturbing story from his annoying phone news feed, I have been wondering what the hell I might do with those scented bath salts other than soak in a bath with them for ten minutes.
Could you enlighten me?
And how come I can’t buy sinus medicine any more?
Remember Dristan? I recall having a bad cold and taking that and driving to work. When I arrived I thought I had been riding as a passenger in the back seat.
Turns out a lot of the old pills were nothing but Meth. Today as you likely know, the idiots take the pills with decongestants and use them to make Meth. Also stuff like carburetor cleaner, Draino, match heads and other stuff. They must be mucho f’d up to consume Draino and brake fluid. Darwinian theory in practice I guess.
Exactly. These kids have MacGyver-like abilities when it comes to ways on getting high. BTW – in my earlier comment I wrote I’m a mentor for my “country”. Obviously, I meant county. Every week, new kids. Sadly, none of them are alright.
When my son was small, he got sinus congestion in February and was prescribed some kind of pills that dried up everything including the kitchen sink. He rarely needed them, since a couple of days of taking them seemed to do the trick. My hillbilly cousins saw those pills in my freezer (forgotten) and got so excited I can’t imagine how thrilled they would be to see the bath salts I’m hiding in my nightstand.
Same here. None of that newfangled crap (Claritin, various others) works for me, my sinuses ignore them. The one that works is real sudaphed – pseudoephedrine HCl, I can breathe when I take it.
But now buying real Sudaphed puts you on a list – you can’t buy too much of it over a month, so you better be careful and ration it out to last. Damn, I’m on so many lists by now that there’ll be a barroom fight between the brownshirts who come to get me! I can see the BATF bastards arguing with the FBI and the DOJ fuckups – “He’s mine! He wrote articles and comments on TBP!” “No, he’s mine – he bought too many Sudaphed tablets in a month, twice!” “No, he’s mine – he wrote critical things about Hillary, Obama and Schumer! Back off!”
With any luck they’ll all shoot each other…
Perhaps you could explore acquiring your own Ephedra plants? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephedra_(plant) It’s been used for 60,000 years for herbal medicine. I was watching Hood’s Woods one time. He was crossing a desert valley and he explained how wild Ephedra was easy to gather and it made a great survival tea. http://valleyseedco.com/11492/ma-huang-ephedra-sinica/
“But now buying real Sudaphed puts you on a list – you can’t buy too much of it over a month, so you better be careful and ration it out to last. Damn, I’m on so many lists by now that there’ll be a barroom fight between the brownshirts who come to get me! I can see the BATF bastards arguing with the FBI and the DOJ fuckups – “He’s mine! He wrote articles and comments on TBP!” “No, he’s mine – he bought too many Sudaphed tablets in a month, twice!” “No, he’s mine – he wrote critical things about Hillary, Obama and Schumer! Back off!””
Good prediction!
Why were the members of Huxley’s Brave New World given Soma on as “as needed” basis?
Reckless irresponsible behavior in the shadows generally have serious even deadly consequences . Having come of age when pot , meth then Coke followed by crack where easily obtained . The only problem I really see is it was all kept in the shadows while good people claim to be helping to remedy the illegal drug situation their solutions merely made it a high profit zero tax cash industry . Billions spent in what amounts to be an extension of the Military Industrial Complex steadily fleecing American Taxpayers . The war on drugs is nothing more than a federal jobs program for everything from treatment centers , prisons , court systems and policing agencies from the DEA down to local law enforcement .
Make it all legal register as an addict and recieve free doses as needed or desired safely and of pure content . As for pot sell it like alcohol . I know it sounds absurd till you actually think about the issue , the problems and effective solutions . First let’s bring it into the light !
I am sorry for all families who experience the loss of a child under any circumstance . I honestly believe the drug issue is being completely mishandled and in many cases it’s for the profit involved on both the legal and illegal side ! If this were not true then why when banks are caught up in drug money laundering does it fade from view with a petty fine and a wrist slapping ?
Allowing adults to be free and responsible for themselves and their own consumption of any and all substances?
Do you think this is a free country or something?
The only thing the overwhelming majority of people around the world love more than having their needs met by stealing from other people is to dictate what everyone else can and cannot do.
Boat guy, you read this story, and you think legalization is the answer? Sad story, Jim. Sorry your boy lost a friend. Glad your boy is strong
What kind of a worthless piece of shit worries about another worthless piece of shit that overdosed on drugs. I wish to hell all of you drug users and those that sympathize with you would move to the Phillipines. That country has a President that knows exactly how to deal with you wasted orgasms. Just this week my rifle scope and survival knife were stolen by a worthless piece of shit drug user just to continue her habit at my expense. Death to all of you that can’t handle reality and choose the easy way out by numbing your inferior brain with illegal drugs.Shitbirds, one and all, that is exactly what you are.
Hondo – how about you go fuck yourself? The comment re death to people who do not agree with you is fucked up.
Every drug overdose is on a personal level a tragedy. Those people are someone’s sons, daughters, fathers, brothers, etc. Their deaths leave a mark. It is sad. Admin’s family has been touched by this issue directly.
With respect to society as a whole, I spoke with some cops after my home was burgled by a drug addict – along with 80 more that they knew the same perp had robbed. It traumatized my kids and wife.
The cops said something interesting – they effectively said they were overjoyed every time they were called out to a death by overdose. Why? Because it meant one less burglar, thief, violent individual on the street. And with respect to society as a whole, they were happy about that.
But make no mistake – on a personal level, it is an enormously tragic affair, from start to finish.
I am sorry you were burgled. I hope, but doubt, appropriate punishment will be meted out.
Who gives a rat’s ass whose sons or daughters they are. Every time one of those lowlifes flatlines the world becomes a better place. If you are so damned inferior that you can’t accept reality by drinking beer or a mixed drink then who in hell needs you. I’m so sick and tired of listening to parents of the deceased Joe and Jane drug users sing the blues about how they tried so hard to get their kids off of drugs. Legalize the damn mess and let them have all the overdoses they want. I can remember a world without drugs you dumbass. Life was simple then. No drugs equaled very little crime. In closing I want you to hear this loud and clear, I laugh in the face of dead drug users. The only thing that makes me happier than a dead druggie, is two dead druggies.
Rejoicing about death is sad. I feel sorry for you.
I’m sorry to hear about your hypertension issues.
Resorting to beer as a crutch is not the answer though.
I agree with the last comment, I know the sjw thing nowadays is to shut down free speech but drugs are shit and the people that deal with them are nothing better than the substance they deal with.
That’s heartbreaking. I’ve got 2 little girls and I pour everything into trying to teach them, make them excited about learning, get them interested in the world, and I want to arm them with all the tools possible to make the right decisions in life. I know all the bad decisions I’ve made and my friends and extended fuckup family members and I want soooooo bad to have them ready to hit the ground running so they can avoid those ridiculous pitfalls. My family is full of ridiculous bad examples of how not to act, how not to work, how not to wreck a marriage, education, or career. I want the best for them, but I’m coming to the fearful realization that it might not matter because even with the best information available, they’re still going to make the same mistakes I and everyone else did before them.
Do you have a husband, or just a boyfriend that’s a life support system for a dick. If you love your kids then I’m sure you picked a good dad for them. But you probably did not. You just went out, spread your legs, and walla walla you got kids at taxpayer’s expense no doubt. But I forgot, you love them. BULLSHIT!
How to destroy a country from within:
Destroy personal responsibility which will
Destroy the family which will
Destroy the neighborhood which will
Destroy the community which will
Destroy the town which will
Destroy the county which will
Destroy the state which will
Destroy the region which will
Destroy the country…..
75+ years of professional politicians plus Hollywood’s cheap melodramatic bullshit attacks on morals & ethics have destroyed personal responsibility…….remember when “for better or worse ’til death do us part” meant something?
Simply by way of FYI, most ODs I get in our ER are people who are “just out if rehab (or jail)”, because tolerance has come down. People take the same hit they used to, but it is too much for them. It doesn’t seem to be purposeful suicide attempt, just a mis-judgement. I have often wondered if rehab places will tell them this on the way out. Just for safety’s sake…
How many people have overdosed on marijuana?
Defiant Goyim
Diogenes
I would almost bet that the number of ODs on the narcotic or medical use of marijuana grown in an untainted environment is zero. HOWEVER, we all know the real reason it is considered a “gateway” drug is NOT because it is addictive, but because it impairs judgement. You might use a drug you would otherwise refuse when buzzed on marijuana. But, if you understand how to use herbs without getting the buzz, that number could easily be limited to close to zero.
“Hate the sin, but love the sinner”
— Jesus Christ
“You might use a drug you would otherwise refuse when buzzed on marijuana”
Hey Maggie, using the same “logic”, why is alcohol legal? I have seen more people make stupid decisions on alcohol then I ever had have on marijuana.
I don’t agree with the argument… Marijuana is no more to blame for people’s bad decisions than the devil is to blame for man’s inhumanity to man. We are each of us responsible.
A drunk runs a stop sign & t-bones the mini-van killing &/or maiming make, pa & kids…..
Pothead sits at the stop sign & waits for it to turn green 😉