Philip Seymor Hoffman was a talented actor, pure genius, gifted and prolific. At just 46, he lost his beautiful life, and we lost him, to addiction. While Hoffman’s life was celebrated by many, there are countless more souls, tormented by pain of addiction, that go unnoticed every day. Drug overdoses kill more people than car accidents in 29 states. In the past decade, this number has spiked due to prescription pain killers. Yet, we continually ignore treating addiction, and other mental health problems, with any sort of compassion or integrity in this country.
Mental health and wellness is not covered under most insurance plans, there are no emergency facilities to treat young people, and the affordable healthcare act makes no provisions for mental wellbeing, or to treat addiction. Oh, but how the politicians love to say that we need to focus on mental health, as they stand by and do NOTHING.
Hoffman had the resources to get treatment, and he used those resources on many occasions, yet still suffered an untimely death. How many others suffer because they have no access to those same resources? What if we spent less money and energy on wars and instead invested time and energy into helping heal the causes of suffering?
laurariggs.com 