‘Our lives have more meaning because they were here’
We’re holding another overdose memorial this year because every human life is sacred and every life lost a tragedy (“Overdose deaths hold steady in New Mexico,” July 13, 2017).
The memorial is about helping each of us find strength together to absorb our loss; finding community with everyone who cares; and finding strength in ourselves and each other to move forward. We remember and honor those we’ve lost. We recall their joys and dreams, and refuse to let their memory be distorted by how their journey in this world ended. Our lives have more meaning because they were here.
We’re holding the memorial because we need to do more than grieve alone or with close friends and family. We need to grieve as a community. We need to acknowledge our losses as a community. We need to speak their names aloud, in public, and send them on their way. So much about addiction is hidden, buried and forgotten before it can be known.
We stand together at the memorial to acknowledge that our children, friends and relatives are dying, lost to a disease that we too often pretend happens to other people, other families. We stand as a community to acknowledge the harm this epidemic is doing to the place we call home. We hold the memorial to break the silence. To tell their stories, to say goodbye one more time, to remember, and to let go.
Please join us from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 31, at the Old Church Courtyard of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, 417 Agua Fría St. (corner of Guadalupe and Agua Fría).