Confession of a Former Drug Addict: Learning the Value of Family

Confession of a Former Drug Addict tuition the Value of Family Misguided Youth Oh presently that I consider backwards rough it, I was real stupid when I was young and that my father is really unfortunate to pretend a son compar commensurate me Kong said as he cease with a short embarrassed put-on while he recounts the past he isnt exactly proud of in mandarin. Kong, 36 , had spent most of his youth in and out of the medicate reclamation centre and prison. His parents separated while he was static young and their m some opposite stubborn to bring him and his junior brother on to move into their grand contracts post at Ang Mo Kio.Kong was the eldest among the grandchildren odd in his grand incurs tuition. With his mother busy at work to carry the family and his grandmother busy attending the young kids, the mischievous boy al personal manners fancys the pass off to sneak out of the house. It was and therefore when he got acquainted and started hanging ou t with the quondam(a) kids somewhat his neighborhood. These are the friends that very such(prenominal) influenced and helped mold him into a teenage delinquent. I was encour olden by them to join their gang, to run off school and hang out with them.And it was accordingly when I learn how to shoplift, cutting fibril off bicycles to steal, extorting capital from other kids and acquire into labor for the most minor reason, dear for the sake of getting into trouble and quest thrill out of it. , Kong explained how he was a wayward boy that followed whatever his peers instigated. And it matte really good to be factor of the gang and cool to be doing things other normal good kids didnt dare to do. It was hence when young Kongs misbehaviors and actions, prove that it goat wear direct consequence on his family, and the first to experience it was n unitary other than his younger brother.Both brothers were studying in the analogous neighborhood secondary school. Kongs trua ncy and deadly records kept piling up and finally one day, he withal threatened to digest the schools principal while world called to discipline. Thats when the school decided nice is enough, and Kongs expulsion was announced. But not retributory him alone, his younger brother was to be expelled a persistent with him. Sure the younger brother wasnt exactly the good obedient student, had been verifyn vertical roughly Kong, caused some mischief and playful enough to skip school occasionally.But he neer crossed the line or got snarled with Kongs unlawful activities. Still, the school name these reasons enough to get the siblings off their grime permanently. The principal felt that because hes my younger brother, hes temperament is accreditedly as bad as me Just because hes my younger brother. Kong said while shaking his doubtfulness slightly. You may think thats raw but things were different back then during that time. Now if something the like this happened at on e timeadays, you allow see the principal and school getting onto give-and-take Kong ended with a laugh. From Bad to WorseHis mother and grandmother blamed him for dragging his younger brother into that situation because of the troubles he brewed and creationness a bad influence. But this resultant didnt make Kong reflect on his actions. He didnt think of it as a big deal. He didnt care about anything. The teenagers unmanageable nature wholly served to take things for the worse. curtly after getting expelled from school, he currently finds himself experimenting with drugs. It was the norm as mass nigh him were doing inhalants and drugs. The first he experimented was glue sniffing. thence he moved on to punishing out ecstasy and heroin etc.Experimentation whirls into dependency. The addiction works in an insidious way, it crept in and slowly took everyplace Kongs career before he realize. Days of drug taking ritual turned to weeks, then months and years. It seems l ike Kong wasnt the one unequivocal the drugs, it was the other way round. Spending his sustenance in a drug-fuelled haze, it revolved around being troubled over where to find money to substitute his next make out of drugs. Keeping up with the addiction make to be not cheap. Although he had get together and worked for the lion dance troupe that was associated with his gang, it wasnt enough to keep up with his expenses.To get together with his drug cravings, he resorted to theft and robbery, flush stealing from his family. The one he hurt most during this period was his mother. Seeing her out scream because of him was nothing new. His desperation for drug even made him turned his hand on his very own mother. Kong recalls that particular consequent that he will feel bad for as long as he lived, This one time I was having this capital urge for drugs, but I didnt have money with me, I ransacked the house and approached my mother in the kitchen. But she wasnt willing to hand m e any money and was screaming at me to quit.I got impatient and this explosive surge of anger rose up and I exploded, He slapped his own mother across the face. Kong then go on remorsefully, I was an unfilial and disgraceful son. Unfit to be adult male for hurting my mother like that. kindred what they say, I deserved to be potty ingest by lightning. Relatives chided him as being useless, and a shame to the family. Kong ended up caught and admitted to the drug rehabilitation centre. After his release, Kong was still mixing around with the bad assembly of friends as he felt being shunned by the society and this was the group of people most accepting of him.He couldnt quench clean and soon fell back to his old ways after gaining freedom. He was sent back to the drug rehabilitation centre once more for relapse. I was stubborn and self-centered. I didnt really try hard or be firm enough to change my life. I just thought I was unlucky to be caught the first few times. Kong sa ys. He continued his old ways, involving in gang fight and robbery with hurt. He was sentenced to imprisonment for a total of 7 years and disposed(p) 10 strokes of cane. Turning PointWhen he was finally released from Changi Prison, Kong, 30 by that time, felt that he had already wasted a bad part of his youth. He made sure to remind himself of the guilt and shame. The heart twist moment etched in his memories when he saw how his mother broke down in tears when he was sentenced, how his aged grandmother with declining health having to make her way to visit him in prison over the years. I robbed my mother for years because of my disobedient nature, because of my selfishness. All I did was lying and being dishonest with everything they confronted with me.I never thought about the damage I imposed on my family because of my actions. I took advantage on how they dote, only to make them heart-broken. Kong confessed. Now, he deeply understands for mistakes he made, he wont be the only one paying his dues. His family and love ones will inevitably bear his consequences one way or the other. Among the stains that he was inked over his body during his rebellious younger days, he is in a flash sporting a sak yant on his back, a traditional form of tattoo normally performed on followers by Buddhist monks in Thailand.He decided to report Buddhism and was on a religious wind up to Thailand to receive a sak yant. But the tattoo wasnt what he received. It was there where he got to know this local young adult female from Chiang Mai, who soon became his wife. Kong and his wife now have two young missys. Unfortunately, their first young woman Elina, 6, is diagnosed with minor autism and currently attending a special school. But their younger daughter has an even more unfortunate fate. Rita, now 3, was born with a severe spinal anaesthesia deformity which was curved at 80 to 90 degree in S shape.She is the youngest and one of the most serious cases of indispensable sc oliosis in Singapore. Two titanium rods all(prenominal) 15 cm to 20 cm long was inserted into her body to straighten her acantha and ribs when she was 2. Every six to nine months, Rita will have to go through trading operations until she is 14 years old, to expand the rods allowing growth. beingness the sole breadwinner of the family, Kong currently works as a cargo assistant with a monthly salary of $1600. He try to working overtime whenever possible so as to provide more support to his family.He was able to cover more about half of the medical expenses from his own Medisave and Medifunds for Ritas medical expenses. He shared how he learnt humility and helpfulness receiving help from relatives and donations staged by the hospital. Sometimes I think that maybe its because of my past deeds, it index have been my karma that caused even my daughters to have to suffer. be a father made me realized how much the heart hurts when parents see their children suffer, like how my mothe r used to feel. level(p) now, I oasist revealed all Ritas causation to my Thai wife. Im broken she may not be able to take it. Sometimes she will cry while looking at the long deep surgery scars running on Ritas back. . Kong said. Im really grateful for my family and relatives who knew of my past, but still pass judgment me, loved and cared for my daughters as their own too. Kong added. Even though life may not have turn up perfect, family is now the fuel and motivation for Kong to not turn back his old ways, to be a responsible father and son.