Hungover. Sobbing. Distraught.
Today I met up with LK. I was given some things for his family and wanted to pass them along to him, but when I went to his place, no one answered the door. So I walked around the side and knocked on his bedroom window. I heard something akin to a guttural growl. I then shouted, “It’s David.” I must have awakened him. I walked back around to the front and waited a few minutes before he came to let me in.
He was hungover and did not look so good. I mentioned I had a few things for his family, but LK did not say much. After a couple of uncomfortable minutes of silence, I asked him if he was alright. He fell backward against the wall and began to weep, sobbing and shaking his head back and forth. I had never seen LK so distraught.
At about half my age, LK is a couple of inches taller and at least 50 pounds heavier. His demeanor is usually stoic and unemotional. Not knowing how he would respond, I pulled him close and held him. He wept even more. After what seemed like three or four minutes, he composed himself. He turned and sat down on the edge of his bed, patting the place next to him and asking me to sit. He began to tell me how miserable he was and how he felt he was a ‘loser.’ He started weeping again.
Thinking to change his mood, I asked, “Is your wife here?” I was hoping she was in the other room.
“No,” he said. “She is with her brother.” This time, I didn’t have to reach for him; he reached for me, sobbing inconsolably.
My friend is like so many others here who have gone to the so-called treatment, quit drinking for several months, and, with sobriety and determination, looked for work every day for weeks to no avail. (In a town this small, opportunities are limited.)
Predictably, LK became discouraged and, with nothing more to do, started hanging out with his old friends. It was only a matter of time before he succumbed and became an alcohol-related statistic. Seventy percent of Native Americans in Montana are adversely affected by alcohol. But alcohol is only a symptom of larger problems.
For the majority of Natives in Montana, the “casino-rich Indian” is a lie. Nearly 50 percent of Sioux live well below the poverty level. On my reservation, the unofficial unemployment rate is more than 75 percent compared to the state average of less than 4 percent. Families, sometimes three or four generations to a house, must pool their resources to make do.
As a colleague pointed out, LK is in a confluence of circumstances contributing to his situation. Reservations and many urban areas often see job scarcity. Unemployment creates conditions of fear and despair, which often bring about hopelessness and a need for relief, which is readily available in illicit, violent or destructive behavior. Poverty, especially generational poverty, is not just about material wealth; it is much deeper.
Please pray for LK and his little family.
