Last night I got a text from a friend along the lines of "Remember so and so we used to work with? It looks like the drugs got her" There was an arrow, one that I pushed though it was alone there with no context. Nothing happened. I texted my friend back asking her if it was an obituary. I told her I had JUST been thinking of this lady and hoping she was doing well. Weird how that happens, way too often to think of it as coincidence. And we hadn't contact except once after she left the place we mutually worked at. Except once. I saw her in a store in scrubs and went to say hi (I liked this person) She said she was working as a CNA and going to school trying to get into the nursing program. She was having trouble with some of the classes. I thought she'd make a very good nurse. She seems a very caring person. My friend texted me back and said not an obituary. An arrest. Many counts of forgery and a count of abuse of a vulnerable adult. My heart sank. I wondered what had happened. My friend had suggested drug abuse and that's likely. This woman had been through surgeries and her neck was left tweaked. She took and got addicted to painkillers. I think it was Oxycontin. She'd fall asleep at work sometimes and she was always in some degree of pain. She was trying to wean off the painkillers. When I saw her in the store I never thought of a link between healthcare and access to drugs. I don't KNOW if that was part of what happened here. She looked good. And she was a compassionate person. Anyway, several local friends posted the more detailed story to facebook today. I don't think they knew her. I think the posting was along the lines of tongue clucking disgust at something a local had done (she confessed) And my picture of her changed but not to the degree of the comments posted along with that story of yet another terrible crime. People are wishing her eternal damnation. I remember the person. Yes, she made awful choices but I am one of those people who really do believe that the health or illness of a society affects the whole population. This was a money crime. The people posting this story aren't posting about the bigger money crimes that have created the economic gap that leads to desperate acts. And how about the lack of insurance that may have kept this woman from good treatment or the goals of Big Pharma which have nothing to do with healing or wellness. I think of my former co-worker, who I liked. Who i know loved her family, her dogs, and her church. I wonder what the people in her life are doing and feeling. I expect the dogs love her just as much. We are a punitive people. I read what I think is a very good book called Moral Tribes and it addressed the concept of punishment as a part of our morality. I am not sure there is not a better way than demonizing people who have done admittedly terrible things. This is the second person I have known to be recently in the news locally for crimes I wouldn't have suspected them of committing. The other one was shot dead for his transgression. These crimes are nothing to ignore but we need to have more care (I think) for both the victims and the perpetrators. Heal if there can be healing.