Dear Editor,
It is certainly no secret that opioids and other addictive substances are the epidemics of our country today. Individual lives, entire families, and whole communities are being permanently destroyed by this awful disease.
But unless your door has been marked and your family scarred, it is very easy to nod in sympathy and say a small silent prayer of thanksgiving that this didn’t happen to our kid/father/mother/brother/sister/neighbor. But when we utter that prayer, we are forgetting the fact that every person in our community is indeed our kid/father/mother/brother/sister/neighbor.
And then we know that indeed we are all affected by the epidemic of addiction. It was the community of caring that brought all of us to live in New Canaan and raise our families here. Now, to face this challenge — we must help each other.
Come to the Pop Up Park in town at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 31. The New Canaan community will band together to begin to “Help Each Other to Heal” — an evening of remembering those who have been lost, to learn from real-life stories by family members, and to leave with hope and resolve.
This is our hometown. We must do it. This really, really matters.
Thank you.
Melanie Barnard