Non - Fiction

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Addicted. Also known as being mentally and physically dependent on a particular substance unable to stop taking it without incurring adverse effects and suffering. 

Japanese Maple Trees are addicts. A constant need for light. Air. Water. Core elements of the Earth, the essence of life itself. 

The innocent people sitting in jail cells, slowly rotting away, are addicts too. A constant need for brain altering effects - something to fill the emptiness. Highs. Lows. Core elements of damaged people. 

Japanese Maple Trees are native to Korea, Japan, and China, but blossom in America. Usually around spring for a few weeks. A reminder that beauty can be fleeting.

Drug addicts in Korea, Japan, China, and the United States are not seen as people. No, they are seen as weak. Pathetic. Morally bad. 

Do we really think stricter border control can alter the permanent effects done to one’s brain? Do we really think it is easier to reduce people to labels? Do we ever ask, Why?

Endless talk of rehabilitation, but where is the action? Instead of executing people - kicking them off of stolen land - maybe we should start focusing on the real issues : Why does someone hate themselves enough to shoot up heroin? 

Japanese Maple Trees stand at heights reaching 20 feet tall. A stunning sight of maroon colored flowers. But like addicts, it only lives in its peak for a moment. Just a few weeks of this bloom until the season changes. 

There was a period of time where these addicts were viewed as people. Lively. Bright. Alive. Deserving of a chance to bloom again. 

When did we stop seeing addicts as humans? When did we become so hateful, so lifeless, driven not by passion but by hatred?

Maybe we should treat addicts the way we treat Japanese Maple Trees. Gentle. Loving. Kind. 

Because when we see life in the perspective of beauty and not pain, people - like Japanese Maple Trees - can bloom again.