Saw another one last night:
“Helena police search for missing teen,” the headline ran.
We’ve been seeing headlines like this a lot over the past few months, haven’t we?
It’s because of the lockdowns.
Stuck inside all day, can’t see anyone but you’re parents.
Friends be damned!
You sure as shit aren’t going to see friends anymore. Oh...and that boyfriend? You can kiss him goodbye.
We’re in Covid world.
Lockdown world
You-don’t-mean-a-fuck world.
And how do certain teens respond to that?
They run away.
I know you’re like me - you’ve noticed all these ‘missing teens’ stories.
Sure are a lot of ‘em, aren’t there?
Why?
Again...the lockdowns.
Back in June, a Billings radio station ran a report telling us about 54 school aged kids that were currently missing.
There’s a whole Facebook page just for missing people in Montana. The ones the news doesn’t mention; the ones that fell through the cracks.
Clearly, it’s not just a ‘native’ problem.
It’s a Montana problem, and there are many smaller problems feeding into it, creating the terrible situation that it is.
“We have the second highest number of kids in foster care in the entire country and violent crime is up 37% in the last seven years,” Greg Gianforte told a Missoula radio station this past week.
Meth use in Montana skyrocketed 34% after the lockdowns were put in place.
I don’t have all the answers on this one; I hardly have even one.
But I know we have a monumental problem, and we need to start talking about it.
The current semi-lockdown with school just a few days a week is causing immense levels of harm to our young.
The old do not seem to care about this, and I think that’s an even greater problem.
