OPINION

MIKE MASTERSON: 'Don't go there'

A congressman's plea

Third District Rep. Steve Womack is a serious-minded retired National Guard colonel whom I have occasionally seen laugh. During the years I've known him, he's most often come across as focused, driven and relatively intense, which likely serves him well in the contentious, unpopular and foul political sewer we call D.C.'s Beltway.

But in Harrison recently, the congressman revealed a deeply human side of himself I'd not yet witnessed: Humbled and somewhat shaken by the latest arrest of his son, James Philip Womack (whose rap sheet involves mostly drugs but has steadily expanded over the past decade) on 11 criminal charges.

Womack and his always gracious wife Terri have done all they could to continually support their beloved son. But it was not enough to keep him from following along trouble's path, a perilous journey whose initial steps began before he turned 20.

Womack told The Associated Press that, while he loves his son unconditionally, at 31 years old he's wholly responsible for his own actions and decisions.

On this day while speaking to about 700 students, Womack opened up with his feelings, as many disappointed fathers might, while urging the youthful audience not to follow in his son's footsteps.

The news account by Harrison Daily Times reporter George Holcomb said Womack began by saying he trusted the student audience to respect his vulnerability and handle his humiliation gently, which they did by listening in silence.

Speaking about Philip, a handsome, dark-haired man, Womack was quoted saying, "He is sequestered from society because he made some pretty bad decisions in his life. Look, I'm embarrassed to even talk about this. But right here in front of me are about 700 young people that maybe I might be able to save from themselves."

He said the most difficult thing he's ever had to deal with was trying to help a son with an addiction. Despite having advantages in life, the small, seemingly simple choices Philip made in high school led to the trouble he remains in today, he explained.

"I stand before you embarrassed but motivated to say, 'Don't go there.' It's not enough to 'just say no'," Womack added. "You need to try to help the person who is tempting you."

Womack, clad in a crisp white shirt and red tie, said 70,000 people died of drug-related causes in the U.S. last year. "This stuff can kill you. And if it doesn't kill you, it can destroy any chance you have for a successful life. The decisions you make at 16, 17, 18 years old will literally change your life forever."

In support of his point, I found a reported total of 401 people died of drug overdoses in Arkansas during 2016, many across the counties of Northwest Arkansas. That number also set a record, according to the Arkansas Department of Health.

Between 2014 and 2016, the average age of a person who died from a drug overdose was 43. In the same time period, Arkansas' "average age at death from all causes was 71, which means overdoses shortened many people's lives by close to three decades," the department reported.

Womack's somber appeal stretched beyond the damage young people do to themselves and their futures when they choose to enter the soulless drug culture. He emotionally implored the students not to become involved in drugs to spare their families from tremendous grief.

"Please, please, please, don't ever put your parents in this position--standing up here talking about their personal circumstances with a group of teenagers," he said. "But it helps me a little to talk about it, and if my talking about it can save one person from this outcome, you can bet your life it's worth it."

The congressman closed his appeal by advising students to seek wise counsel whenever they face difficult decisions throughout life. "If you come to a crossroads and you don't have anybody else to talk to, you call my office and talk to me. I'll give you my opinion."

Afterwards, he urged the crowd to pay attention to their health and make good decisions in that area, and also to become involved in helping others,along with giving back to their communities. He advised them to find a wider need in life, then devote themselves to it.

"You will be amazed at the good this will do, not just for the people you help but for yourself. It's good for the soul to give back."

Timely admonishment

While our nation remains sadly divided and embroiled in needless antagonism, anger and personal smearings, I'm reminded of what the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had to say to a Detroit congregation back in 1954 about such negativity of one's spirit.

"There is something wrong with our world, something fundamentally and basically wrong," A Washington Post editorial reported him telling that gathering. "The great problem facing modern man," he said, "is that ... the means by which we live have outdistanced the spiritual ends for which we live. ... The problem is with man himself and man's soul."

Can I get an amen here in 2018?

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Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist. Email him at [email protected].

Editorial on 11/11/2018

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