| Another Senseless Loss
I'm sitting here silently grieving the death of another teenager from drugs, as reported in today's SCMP ("Girl, 13, dies after taking drugs at disco" July 27th). No, I didn't know 13-year-old Chek Wai-yin or anything about her, but I have a niece who will soon turn 16, and I know that her family and relatives would grieve for a very long time if we were to suddenly lose her, especially to something as stupid as drugs. The paper's Talkback column asked the question "How can young people be protected from drugs?" It would seem to me that the answer is simple: we parents need to spend time with them. No amount of money or toys can take the place of a half-hour each night chatting with them before tucking them in. Equally important, in my humble opinion: no amount of warning and scolding can replace our daily actions. If they see Mom and Dad do it, they're likely to follow. Goodbye, Wai-yin. I can only hope that your passing will save someone else from the hell of narcotics. 27 July 2006 |