When Outside the Classroom Comes In

Today we had a guest speaker in my Contemporary Dutch Social Policy class. Her name is Nancy and she told us her story. She is an ex-drug addict and prostitute. Her story begins at a young age when her dad would beat her and her sisters so they ran away at a young age. She shoots up for the first time at the age of 13 from the influence of her 20 year old boyfriend not knowing its addictive nature. She eventually finds herself on the streets where men would try to abuse her and even threaten her life while she sold her body to support her habit. For more than 30 years she mixed heroin and crack and was fully addicted. She had a child at 30 years old who is in a foster care home. She ended with hope as she received help and is now clean for 4 years and sees her son every month for four days.

Yes there's a lot more pain, heartache and trials that Nancy experienced that my short summary could never give justice to but you can try to imagine what kind of life Nancy lived and how strong of a woman she is now. What I liked about Nancy was how she never had to cover up anything or pound a specific message into your head. She told her story how it was and how she lived it- all real and true, the good and the bad and had you decide what message you want from it.

For example, our teacher asked her what it felt like to get high off heroin and crack and she straight up said "honestly, you know how it feels like to get off? its like that, times 1000..." It's refreshing to hear that side to know that real people have these habits with real feelings and not just junkies you disregard in society. That type of feeling could seem tempting and irresistible for any average person. I appreciated that she included the good and the bad so that you get a more realistic understanding of what an addiction is and the real human feelings that are provoked by an addiction.

I also admired her relationship with her son. She says that it was better to be a good mom from a distance than a bad mom that can't even take care of herself, let alone a child. She said that if her son was ever curious about drugs, she would tell him everything and anything he wanted to know open and honestly. She wouldn't give him false information or scare him away from drugs by closing him off but will immerse him with honest information taken from experience because she knows how it is to go down the wrong way.

I think that's extremely admirable because from comparing the social policies of the Netherlands and America, I've learned that ignorance is not bliss because curiosity can never be cured by turning a blind eye.