So was Quentin right after all?

"...heroin is coming back in a major way!" Seems like it hasn't gone anywhere to begin with, really.

The halo that I wear daily (not nightly, hehe) may not be as white and luminescent as it was when I came into this world but then again one of the side effects of age is tarnish. Just look at any other precious material, right? ;-) To come off high and mighty on the subject of drugs and fame would not be my purpose although I do have strong inner convictions which may make me appear so. With that said, it saddens me that in this present day and age we are still enduring tragedies like this. So preventable a scenario like this is, yet it seems to be an endless cycle - like a coming of age turned sour and curdled.

Most of my generation remembers hearing the news on college campuses when River Phoenix was found dead from a heroin and cocaine overdose at 23. Needless to say this struck a nerve within and outside of Lalaland (excuse me, Hollywood). It goes without saying that he was a very talented child/teen actor who would have most likely continued his success as an adult. (He was a personal favorite of mine.) Today he would have been in his late thirties making him a pseudo-senior man among today's 30-something leading men. Alas, we'll never know just how bright his career would have been, hence the tragedy with a jagged, knotted moral to it. Have things changed? Has the "game" moved forward?

The game. Sounds like such a cliche - the game. What game? The game of life? Can life really be considered a game? I mean what kind of game is worth playing when you only get one man and you are assured nothing but death and taxes at the end? I say life should never be considered a game. It's too precious. It should not be played but lived responsibly, deliberately, purposefully. Besides, we don't get a dress rehearsal nor real padding when we stumble and fall. "Lessons learned are often learned hard," is true but you'd have to agree that the statement holds a great deal of gravity today.

Could Brad Renfro's death have been prevented? Sure. But often the problem is examined to superficially. I say, you must take many steps back before you could have solved his problem. You could chock him up as another victim, but victim doesn't seem a good match here. After all, free will is like a butterfly's wings. If touched in even the slightest way they will never leave the ground. Clearly chances were taken and consequences were realized. My thoughts and best wishes go out to his family and loved ones.

Definitely sone butter fat to chew, eh?

SYS