Discussion:
- 250 words response to the discussion question
- There are 5 responses/replies, choose TWO to comment on (this is a dissection board, your comments to your classmate can be informal)
- 100 words.
What were the top 3 take home messages you took from Chris McFarland's presentation? Look back at your post from yesterday. Is there anything you would add to or modify about your original post now that you've heard his perspective? Explain. How can the depth of one person's experience contribute to our understanding of a larger social phenomenon like addiction?
Responses:
1. "I was deeply moved by Chris McFarlane's speech. For him to bare his entire life story and be completely honest and vulnerable with us today was extremely admirable. It's not an easy thing to do. The kind of resilience that is required to make it from the lowest of lows that Chris experienced to where he is today makes me feel incredibly hopeful. I think it is extremely important for people like Chris to keep telling their stories because talking about addiction, mental illness, incarceration, and homelessness starts chipping away at decades of stigma. His story really resonated with me because a lot of his experiences reflected some of the things I have seen in my own family. We come from very different ends of the experience, but the cycle of addiction, mental illness, incarceration, and homelessness in a lot of ways shaped my childhood and adolescence. Both of my older brothers struggled for a long time with addiction to multiple substances and both were in and out of treatment for a lot of my teen years. By age sixteen both of my brothers had had a few close calls with death before my oldest brother Miles finally passed away due to complications from a heroin overdose. He had just finished receiving treatment and had been clean for several months when he passed. Following his death, my other brother (Miles' twin) suffered a rapid decline of a pre-existing bipolar/schizophrenic disorder. He was arrested multiple times and each time the cause was complicated blend of psychosis and substance use, which is not an excuse that holds up well in court.
I am learning to be more open with my story and sharing me and my family's experience with these kinds of issues. Not only because it can be therapeutic to share my own story but because, like Chris did, I want to contribute to a de-stigmatization of the subject of addiction and mental health. I share my story to show that addiction is experienced by all walks of life. Hiding behind euphemisms and lies will not fix the drug problem in American society. Instead of fighting the very real problem of addiction in our country we are waging war on its victims. We need to stop placing blame on people whose shoes we have never walked in. Instead we should fund treatment programs, access to counseling, and educational programs. Decriminalization and perhaps legalization and regulation of (some) controlled substances is also a step in the right direction. "
2. "One of the main points that I drew from Chris McFarland's presentation today were the undeniable connections between homelessness, substance abuse, and mental illness and how they all interconnect and how they can cause and affect each other. Another take home message that was really emphasized was the importance of understanding that these issues affect not only the people who are struggling, but they also affect the entire community, so it should truly be a group effort to figure things out and help those who need it most. Finally, a huge point that I think Chris was trying to make was an obvious one that we don't always consider, which is that these struggling people are human beings who deserve just as much of our care and support as anybody else does, despite the choices they may have made.
I think that it's important to understand the depth of a person's experience, like Chris' so that we can truly humanize the issue at hand, which in this case is drug abuse. I think that many of us tend to stigmatize and/or turn a blind eye to issues as unpleasant as substance abuse or homelessness or mental illness because they aren't things that we have experienced or dealt with in our own lives. It's easy to throw all these people into one room (or category), express our pity or sympathy, and then shut the door and never really look back at it again. But in reality, it could be any one of us or anybody that we know. When we meet someone like Chris who has experienced such hardships in his life and has struggled with so many issues, we can finally put a face to what was simply a label before. It allows us to understand the struggle of drug abuse and homelessness on a personal level and see what needs to be done about it.
I would go back to my initial post and include more about how anyone can fall through the cracks of homelessness and drug abuse regardless of their background or social situation, because I did admittedly focus more on lower class minority groups, and that now seems too close-minded. I would also reinforce the need for support and the importance of community in the rehabilitation process for people who are struggling, because they are just as human and deserving as the rest of us are."
3. "Chris McFarland's presentation was powerful, heart-wrenching, scary, sad, motivational, but most of all it left me feeling hopeful. Hopeful for the future of addicts and the care they will receive. Chris' impact on his community is nothing short of incredible; he truly is making a difference and changing the lives of others. I admire his resilience that got him to where he is today. His strength and ability to share his story with others. Lastly, I left with a sense of concern for those who won't, or can't be helped.
I was born into a family with many generations of substance abusers. My great-grandparents, my grandparents, and my father and his siblings, as well as many members of my mother's family. Without going into the brutal details, I've seen a lot and hurt a lot because of these addictions. But the difference between my alcohol, narcotic, and meth abusing family and Chris is that Chris made it out. Not one of my loved-ones has. Many of them start as very high-functioning addicts, but it gradually takes over their lives. The alcoholics deny that they have a problem and the hard-drug users aren't ready to accept help. One thing I wish I would've asked Chris is, what would his approach be to dealing with the unreceptive, or those who aren't ready for help?
Looking back at my last post there wasn't anything I would've changed, but I would add personal experiences to support my ideas. Unfortunately, I think in regards to addiction, one must have some sort of direct, or indirect experience to really be able to grasp the issue. Those who stigmatize addicts surely don't know what addiction really is, that substance abuse is a disorder and not always a choice. As Chris said, it's a product of the environment. While it may be possible to show empathy towards addicts without experience, it's definitely easier for those with personal experiences. Those who've experienced addiction in their lives or the lives of others are more likely to show understanding to the struggling addict."
4. "One thing that caught my attention was the power of assumptions. Imagining all of these individuals, a homeless person, someone doing heroin in a bathroom, a person behind bars, and then finding out that Chris matched all of these identities at one point in his life. What I imagined was very stereotypical and biased towards what we see in the media.
Secondly, Chris made me think more about how easily a life can spiral downward, how quickly somebody can be within a happy home, and then be behind bars. Our lives are so interconnected with those who cross our paths, that the most damaging experience and the most loving experience can affect who we are and what we become during our entire lifetime. Being in foster care for 3 years left a damaging mark on Chris' life that was irreversible, affecting certain parts of his life. Even meeting someone who you care so deeply about, it's so easy to transfer the harmful parts of your life, such as drugs, to their own. These things really just made me think more about not the immediate decision of an individual and how they are in that given time, but all of the events in their lives that have influenced where they stand now and what it means for their future.
Lastly, Chris made me have hope for being able to help people who are in similar situations as he was once in. When thinking about such a large scale issue, as that of the war on drugs, it gives me little faith that small individual acts will leave an impact on the grander scheme of things. I think this is where my prevention methods from yesterday were lacking. At a small and local scale, each person can play a role in lending a hand in helping those less fortunate, and it can be as small as educating people about the Good Samaritan Act. Educating those in communities who have the ability to enforce small change is the best way to start. People like Chris, sharing their stories and giving the greater majority an idea of what it is actually like to be that person, caught in the life of drugs, conviction, homelessness, allows us to see the human worth and struggle that people in these situations have. Stories like Chris' may or may not be relatable to a group of individuals, but at least he is standing up and showing that the person he was then does not determine the person he is today. That the struggles he's gone through has built, and it's those who saw light in him and potential that allowed him to climb out of the mess he was in."
5. "Chris McFarland's talk today followed the same viewpoints as my discussion from yesterday, but it brought a lot of unique scenarios and situations to light that I would never have thought of. Listening to the things he experienced really expanded my original viewpoint, and showed the importance of various things like compassion. One of the major messages was definitely the influence of compassion. Chris was lucky enough to have a friend offer a roof over his head after getting parole. But the important aspect is that having that roof over his head removed one of many stressors Chris faced. Without having to work or look for a place to sleep, Chris was able to focus on getting a job and finding some stability in life. I think this is one of the reasons he was able to get back on his feet and really stick to his morals and plans. This compassion was also seen in his ex-wife's choice to share custody of the children. By providing that motivating factor to Chris, and giving him an opportunity he so desired, she was able to help him conquer some really difficult mental and physical obstacles. Another message I took away was the influence of legislative power over the homeless. I was baffled to hear about the laws that prevented homeless people from doing things that are legal to someone who is housed. The fact that they are so easily discriminated against despite the fact that they are already suffering was slightly sickening. It goes to show that there are privileges we don't even know we have because we haven't encountered a situation like homelessness. I would really like to attend those county meetings he talked about, to see how I could influence these legislative changes to benefit homeless people. It really motivated me to be a voice for those homeless in our community. And a final point I took away was that drug addicts really don't want to be drug addicts. Obviously I figured a lot of people were stuck in a rut and did not want to be there. But because of the blatant lack of rehab treatment, even for those incarcerated, I began to realize that maybe it wasn't even an option to get help. A lot of those people on drugs have just been stuck, because of a choice they made or even a choice someone else made to throw them out. At that point class doesn't even matter, but being surrounded by an unhealthy environment with countless stressors makes every day an uphill battle. A lot of what Chris shared reaffirmed my thoughts from yesterday's discussion. I still believe offering treatment rather than high incarceration rates is the optimal way to help the most people. I do now understand how social suffering can lead all types of people to drug abuse rather than there being a stereotypical sufferer. I think seeing this larger phenomenon through someones eyes made everything a lot more real for me. I have never had any issues or run ins with drugs and neither has any of my immediate family. But to hear about their daily life from someone who experienced hell and then some makes me stop and question what every other addict or homeless person has already experienced. They really don't need my judgement passed onto them on top of everything else, it is important to show everyone equal compassion. "
Attachment:- Anthropology.rar