Ostrich

I am really beginning to wonder if I am like an ostrich with my head in the sand. I thought I was fairly aware of what was going on around the US with kids but this one took me by surprise.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>By the fourth grade, about one in 25 children has tried an inhalant; by the sixth grade, the rate is one in 10; by eighth grade, it is nearly one in five, Johnston and other researchers report. Inhalant use among eighth-graders is second only to cigarettes and alcohol in drug use.</blockquote><br />n<br />n<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30968-2005Jan23.html" target="_new">Inhalant abuse</a> (free registration required). I've heard of it but I never thought it was so widespread. One in five eighth-graders have tried it. That so blows me away I can't fathom it. My daughter is in eighth grade. Do I think she has done such things? No. But this makes me wonder. I guess awareness helps combat such things and now that I'm aware I can be more conscious of it. It would be nice to be an ostrich though once in a while and not worry about such things but that doesn't help.<br />n<br />n<b>The real sin against life is to abuse and destroy beauty, even one's own-even more, one's own, for that has been put in our care and we are responsible for its well-being. Katherine Anne Porter</b>