What can you do?

When I got to the gym locker room that night, several men were discussing the rash of overdose deaths in Pittsburgh.

“What can you do?” someone asked.  It was a rhetorical question, but I answered him anyway.

I told him he could clean out his medicine cabinet. Get rid of everything he didn’t need.  Do everything possible not to need the painkillers some docs were so quick to prescribe. If he did need something for pain, make sure nobody else was taking his medications, especially his kids. Tell his representatives to support funding for treatment. 

He said he knew his kids would never abuse his medications.  I asked him if he had ever done anything his parents didn't know about.  We both laughed.  I mentally listed five things I was grateful my parents never heard about.

He wished he could do more, that managing his pills didn't seem like much.  I told him we couldn't all be DEA agents or detox nurses, dealing directly with the problem.  We do what we can, 

Today I will do what I can.

Life on Life’s Terms II © 2015 by Ken Montrose

(Just a reminder: LOLT II is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to anyone you might know is purely coincidental.)