To: The One Who Walked Away
You know who you are,
How could you? How do you walk away from somebody as they're dying? How do you watch somebody who was your "best friend" sit there and let his life slip away? How do you NOT call somebody?? ANYbody!! Instead you walked away. You took the coward's way out. You just left. You left your "best friend" there to die. You let his body sit there for a week before his own mother found him. You let his family and the people that really loved him wonder for a week why he wasn't contacting them. You let them wonder why he wasn't returning phone calls. You let the 3 most important women in his life pass by Valentine's Day wondering where that phone call and single rose was that they had been getting consistently every year. You let his mother find him in that horrible way. Because of you, that image is forever burned into her memory.
I have to know how you life with yourself. I have to know how you get through every day knowing that you let him die. I have to know how you sleep at night without him haunting your dreams. Are you really that heartless? That insensitive? Do you ever think about his family? The family that he had to leave behind...the 3 brothers, the little sister, the mom, the girlfriend? The friends that really did love him?? Do you ever think about those people? Do you think about how THEIR lives are forever changed because of the decision that you made? I bet you don't. Because in my eyes, all I see is somebody that only thinks about himself. I see someone that was too selfish to call for help. Somebody that wanted to save his own ass. So instead of saving a life, you walked away.
I hope that one day this comes back to haunt you. I hope that eventually you can't sleep at night. I hope the regret of what you did finally comes back to take you over. I hope you're proud of yourself. And I hope you know that you're weak.
Sincerely,
His little sister
Wow, that was so powerful Tasha...do you know who this person is? Didn't they leave him in his own house? How hard would that have been to call and then leave if they HAD to? I feel for your mom having that vision in her head. I don't know how she gets the strength to deal with it. xoxoxoxo
ReplyDeleteDenise
Very Powerful Tasha!!
ReplyDeleteYou and I have had countless conversations about this kid...in fact just last night over dinner we discussed him again.
I hope that Justin's death lives with him til the day he himself dies. I also hope that one day he will be free of drugs himself and be able to come clean with what happened the day Justin died.
How Ashamed of the Police department I am for having the same knowledge I did, and not doing anything about it, especially since Justin did their dirty work for them. They (this specific department) should be ashamed to call themselves police officers of the law.
Denise....Yes, we know who not only supplied the heroin and cocaine that took Justin's life, but the 'friend' that walked away and left my son there to die. We also know the 2 police that were involved and refused to be of any help. I'm embarrassed that they call themselves police officers and pretend to protect and serve the community they claim they do.
I hope that somehow they too wrestle with knowing they COULD HAVE done more.
I don't know how I do it either Denise, the memory that is forever etched in my mind is so painful and disturbing, but I have to close my eyes and picture his big smile and big blue eyes and I hear him saying to me "I love you Momma do" and somehow that helps just a little.
Very powerful. Obviously, this case is different. I can't see any reason to leave someone, least of all for any length of time. Horrible.
ReplyDeleteBut, in the same vein, Illinois is one of the few states who charge the victims "friends" with a felony if they are there when the police arrive. If the victim survives, he/she is also charged. Because of this law, many kids are dying needlessly because the using buddies are afraid of being slapped with a felony.
There is a movement in Springfield that is aimed at trying to make it legal to possess a small amount of drugs, but only in this situation. This way kids won't be afraid to make the call that will save an OD victim's life. For more info contact
Kathie Kane-Willis
Director, Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy
Interim Director, Institute for Metropolitan Affairs
Roosevelt University
Suite 1750
Chicago, IL 60605
312.341.4336 (v)
so glad to see you started your own blog! I'll stay tuned!