“If you want to get high, get high on Life”, sings Setso on 26th June, the International Day against Drug Trafficking and Illicit Drugs. The song still keeps coming back to me as I think of all those who lost their loved ones to drugs, because they got ‘high on drugs, not on life’. I keep thinking of all those whom we have loved, whom we have known but are lost today because they got ‘high on drugs’. I remember with all my good wishes and prayers, all those friends out there who are still struggling with their addiction to get a chance to get ‘high on life’. On that memorable day, as I sat there among the crowd at Hotel Japfii, mesmerized by the golden voice of Setso ( recovering drug user), thousands of thoughts came rushing to my mind. Friends, relatives, people that I knew whose life was robbed away by drugs. They, who never got a chance to get ‘high on life,’ All mixed feelings filled me as I sat there listening. Feelings of despair, feelings of hope, and feelings of ‘life’ rushed through me. I thought to myself, “God give all my friends, my young brothers and sisters, the courage and wisdom to stay away from drugs”. Many young talented Nagas never lived long enough to sing this song with Setso. Thousands of young talented Nagas never lived long enough to listen to this song .Thousands of young talented Nagas who left a vacuum in the lives of their family members, their friends, their society because they got ‘high on drugs’. Thousands of young Nagas who could not live long enough to ‘Get High On Life !’ I cannot help myself from feeling sad thinking of the many talented young Nagas like Setso, extraordinarily gifted like him ,who are not with us anymore to sing for us .I cant help myself from thinking of so many brilliant young Nagas who went astray in life and never came back to enjoy their life. I can’t but think of all those promising young Nagas , to whom life has given much, and who had so much to give to life but because they got ‘high on drugs’, they couldn’t get ‘high on life’, they couldn’t give back to life . As I sat there thinking, thinking of the past , the present and the future, I felt sad that many of our talented and brilliant young people are not with us anymore because somewhere along the line, many of our parents have failed them, some of our churches have failed them. Somewhere, some ways our society has failed them and our government has failed them. And many young people lost their lives because they have failed to learn from the mistakes of others. They failed to learn from their brothers who are no more.
They failed to learn from friends who are no more. I said a silent prayer asking God to give wisdom to Nagas that we learn from our mistakes, learn from the heavy price that we have paid over the years. I prayed that we should not lose our children to drugs anymore. I prayed that we should not lose our youth to drugs anymore. I prayed that our children don’t lose their parents to drugs anymore. That we don’t lose our friends to drugs anymore. That, drugs don’t control our society, our Nagas anymore. As Hutoi ( a recovering drug user) stood there sharing his painful journey of drug addiction and his difficult journey back to recovery, I sat there wishing that all our friends who are still struggling with drug addiction should find a meaning in their life soon and stand proud and strong like Hutoi and Setso. I wish all our young people out there find the courage and wisdom to say ‘NO’ to drugs and ‘ YES’ to life and stay ‘High on Life’.
K. Ela
