Think About It

One of my favorite cop shows of all time is Dragnet. While there have been several iterations of the show, the common theme is Jack Webb playing Joe Friday. There are times when the acting was stiff and the message appears archaic, but I still like the show. The other day I was watching an older version of the show – from the 1950s – that dealt with young people and drugs (well now, maybe the show isn’t as corny as we make it out to be). In this episode a teenager takes a lethal dose of an illicit drug and dies in a park. As Friday assesses the situation, he offers this sentiment, “He was a good-looking boy – too young to be dead. You could argue that for a week, but you couldn’t change it.”. As I thought about what he said, I realized the observation was timeless. We can talk all we want about the waste of life, we can theorize about how things like this shouldn’t happen, we can lament the loss of potential; but all too often, we stand over it – having to deal with the realit