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

Confession of a Former dose Addict Learning the Value of Family Misguided Y divulgeh Oh straight off that I think covering fire ab issue it, I was re on the wholey stupid when I was young and that my beat is really unfortunate to generate a tidings like me Kong said as he ended with a terse embarrassed laugh slice he recounts the past he isnt exactly proud of in mandarin. Kong, 36 , had spent almost of his offspring in and out of the medicate rehabilitation perfume and prison. His parents separated while he was still young and their m other(a) decided to bring him and his young brother a pertinacious to move into their granny knots place at Ang Mo Kio.Kong was the eldest among the grandchildren left in his grand fetchs care. With his mother busy at work to bear the family and his grandmother busy attend the younger kids, the mischievous boy al government agencys finds the chance to sneak out of the set up. It was then when he got acquainted and started hanging out with the older kids close to his neighborhood. These are the friends that very much influenced and helped mold him into a teenage delinquent. I was encouraged by them to join their gang, to rise work and hang out with them.And it was then when I learn how to shoplift, cutting chain off bicycles to steal, extorting currency from other kids and getting into fight for the most minor reason, just for the pastime of getting into trouble and depictking thrill out of it. , Kong explained how he was a wayward boy that followed whatever his peers instigated. And it entangle really superb to be part of the gang and cool to be doing things other normal neat kids didnt dare to do. It was then when young Kongs misbehaviors and actions, prove that it can have direct consequence on his family, and the first to experience it was n unrivaled other than his younger brother.Both brothers were studying in the same neighborhood secondary school. Kongs truancy and bad records kept piling up an d finally mavin day, he regular(a) threatened to hurt the schools chief(prenominal) while universe called to discipline. Thats when the school decided enough is enough, and Kongs expulsion was announced. But not just him al iodine, his younger brother was to be expelled a farseeing with him. Sure the younger brother wasnt exactly the good obedient student, had been seen around Kong, caused some mischief and playful enough to skip school occasionally.But he never crossed the line or got baffling with Kongs unlawful activities. Still, the school found these reasons enough to get the siblings off their ground permanently. The principal felt that because hes my younger brother, hes disposition is surely as bad as me nevertheless because hes my younger brother. Kong said while shaking his draw slightly. You may think thats unfair still things were different back then during that time. Now if something like this happened nowadays, you leave behind see the principal and school getting onto news 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 existence a bad influence. But this incident didnt get in Kong theorize on his actions. He didnt think of it as a big deal. He didnt care about eachthing. The teenagers rebellious nature only served to take things for the worse. Soon after getting expelled from school, he presently finds himself experimenting with drugs. It was the norm as people around him were doing inhalants and drugs. The first he experimented was attach sniffing. Then he moved on to essaying out raptus and heroin etc.Experimentation turns into dependency. The addiction works in an insidious way, it crept in and belatedly took over Kongs life before he realized. Days of drug taking ritual turned to weeks, then months and years. It seems like Kong wasnt the one controlling the drugs, it was the other way round. Spend ing his life in a drug-fuelled haze, it revolved around being troubled over where to find coin to support his next supply of drugs. Keeping up with the addiction check to be not cheap. Although he had joined and worked for the lion dance party that was associated with his gang, it wasnt enough to keep up with his expenses.To satisfy with his drug cravings, he resorted to theft and robbery, compensate stealing from his family. The one he hurt most during this period was his mother. Seeing her word because of him was nothing new. His desperation for drug even made him turned his hand on his very induce mother. Kong recalls that peculiar(a) incident that he will feel bad for as long as he lived, This one time I was having this great persuade 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 me any money and was screaming at me to quit.I got impatient and this sudden surge of rage rose up and I exploded, He slapped his own mother crosswise the face. Kong then continued remorsefully, I was an unfilial and disgraceful son. Unfit to be valet for hurting my mother like that. Like what they say, I deserved to be struck garbage down by lightning. Relatives chided him as being useless, and a demean to the family. Kong ended up caught and admitted to the drug rehabilitation centre. After his release, Kong was still mixture around with the bad group of friends as he felt being shunned by the society and this was the group of people most accepting of him.He couldnt stay 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 determined enough to change my life. I just thought I was unlucky to be caught the first hardly a(prenominal) times. Kong says. He continued his old ways, involving in gang fight and robbery with hurt. He wa s sentenced to imprisonment for a total of 7 years and apt(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 large part of his youth. He made sure to remind himself of the guilt and shame. The heart wrenching upshot 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 rebellious nature, because of my selfishness. All I did was lying and being crooked 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 deep understands for mistakes he made, he wont be the only one paying his dues. His family and loved ones will inevitably bear his consequences o ne way or the other. Among the tattoos that he was inked over his body during his rebellious younger days, he is now sporting a sak yant on his back, a traditional work of tattoo normally performed on followers by Buddhist monks in Thailand.He decided to embrace Buddhism and was on a religious trip to Thailand to put one over a sak yant. But the tattoo wasnt what he received. It was there where he got to know this local young woman from Chiang Mai, who soon became his wife. Kong and his wife now have two young daughters. Unfortunately, their first daughter 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 anesthesia deformity which was curved at 80 to 90 degree in S shape.She is the youngest and one of the most serious cases of congenital scoliosis in Singapore. 2 titanium rods each 15 cm to 20 cm long was inserted into her body to straighten her spine and ribs when she was 2. Every six to nine months, Rita will have to go through operations until she is 14 years old, to diffuse the rods allowing growth. creation the sole breadwinner of the family, Kong currently works as a payload assistant with a monthly salary of $1600. He tried to workings 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 arranged by the hospital. Sometimes I think that possibly its because of my past deeds, it might have been my karma that caused even my daughters to have to suffer. Being a father made me realized how much the heart hurts when parents see their children suffer, like how my mother used to feel.Even now, I havent revealed all Ritas condition to my Thai wife. Im worried she may not be able to t ake it. Sometimes she will cry while looking at the long deep surgery scars foot race on Ritas back. . Kong said. Im really grateful for my family and relatives who knew of my past, but still accepted 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.