Are you part of the problem?

A friend sent me an e-mail yesterday with some of the most graphic photos I have every seen. It was a series of precisely mutilated bodies of men in Mexico. Men who were vicitims of the drug cartel violence. Arms, legs, hands, torsos, heads tossed about like in a horror movie. But this wasn't a movie.

Do you smoke pot, occasionally have a bit of cocaine....just casually, or habitually. Maybe just when you are partying with friends, just a social thing. Maybe you have been doing this for years, but it hasn't affected your life negatively. You still work, raise your kids, go to church, get involved in community organizations. You are a proud American citizen, not hurting anyone.

B.S.!!! You are part of the problem! Yesterday two Americans that work in Cd. Juarez in the American consulate office, were gunned down with their baby in the back seat. The mom was 4 months pregnant. Yesterday, two Americans were shot at Wal Mart in McAllen. Suspected drug related. What if one of us had been shopping there? My husband's job takes him to Reynosa, Mexico regularly. I pray hard for his safety. My youngest daughter is getting ready to participate in a class trip to Mexico, again pray, pray, pray. I can see the border from my front door. There are nights we have gone to bed with a loaded shotgun at our bedside.

I see the devastation to the businesses in our little tourist town of Nuevo Progreso, Mexico. Families that have grown up on both sides of the border, now paying 'protection' to criminals to keep them 'safe'.

You can sit there in your cozy little home and think, 'this doesn't affect me'. Again, B.S. if you use any illegal drugs. You can hate me, cuss me, de-friend me on FaceBook, I don't care. If you are my acquaintance, a family member, or a dear friend...think about those that we love and how we are touched, threatened or in danger because of drug violence. PLEASE don't be part of the problem, if you are quit, or go smoke a joint and don't think about it! One of these days this will touch you too.