Pubdate: Sat, 13 Apr 2002
Source: Daily Item (PA)
Copyright: 2002 The Daily Item
Contact:  http://www.dailyitem.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1045

CRIME - DRUGS DESTROY DREAMS

There is an element in pop culture that glorifies crime.

Unfortunately, the target of those messages mostly are children and young 
adults seeking to differentiate themselves from their parents and other 
enforcers of social norms.

In the movies and on the radio, the new anti-hero scoffs at society - and 
at life itself - with seeming impunity.

This is not a real-life picture.

Bryan Walton and David Richardson know.

They should be in college. The closest they can come to the ivy halls now 
are vocational classes behind bars. Both are inmates at the state prison in 
Coal Township. On Wednesday they shared with a group of Shikellamy students 
the true costs of scoffing at society.

Richardson dreamed of being a doctor, Walton a flight nurse swooping down 
from the skies to save people. Instead, Richardson aspires to be a mechanic 
when he gets out of prison and Walton is grounded, possibly forever.

Richardson chose to become a drug dealer. He was seduced by a glossy image, 
but now must face a cold-steel reality. And he was one of the lucky ones: 
Ten to 20 years in prison instead of an early funeral.

Walton already was in college when his choice to drink and drive steered 
him astray - right into the path of a pedestrian on the side of the road. 
Police charged him with DUI homicide. The family of the man he killed 
charged him, at least in their own minds, with flat-out murder. Their 
sentence: life without possibility of forgiveness. Richardson's actual 
criminal sentence is 3 to 6 years in prison, and a life full of promise on 
indefinite hold.

 From different backgrounds to the same bleak future, Richardson and Walton 
are trying to reconcile their youthful dreams with their still youthful 
nightmares.

While their talk at Shikellamy and other area schools may have been 
inspired by the possibilities of parole, their message to students was 
straight from the heart: Don't follow us.

Redemption for Walter and Richardson, if it can be found, lies between the 
ears of their young listeners. Perhaps a real lesson from "the street" can 
cut through the imaginary glitter and romance of media- induced fantasy.

Area students should learn a simple lesson in logic from the convicts: 
Abusing drugs or alcohol is a crime; jail, or worse, is the end result of 
crime; therefore, do not abuse drugs or alcohol.

If students can process that equation, the fakery behind the worst of pop 
culture will become obvious, and lose its paper-thin luster.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager