There’s nothing quite so humbling as a drug test. I understand the necessity. And the one I took this week was not my first rodeo. This time, I just paid more attention to the details.

Leave your purse here.
Use that hand sanitizer.
Fill this cup to the 2-line.
You have four minutes.
Do not flush the toilet.

No difficulty following the directions. But then I discovered the sink was disabled…I couldn’t wash my hands. Walking out the door, I immediately reached for that original hand sanitizer.

You can wash your hands in the sink over there if you’d like.

Yes, I’d like. Do some people choose not to wash their hands? Decided not to dwell on that.

Leaving the testing facility, I realized everyone was being tested for a different reason. Some, like me, for a new job. Others, for not-so-fun reasons. Each had their own story. One worth telling, even if they hadn’t realized it yet.

The same day, I began listening to this week’s episode of This American Life, The Call. The subject was an unusual hotline set up for drug users. What are the odds? This is not your typical hotline. The purpose is to encourage people not to do drugs alone. Talk about a paradigm shift.

This story allowed personal looks through different lenses. The operator, the caller preparing to use drugs, and the paramedic. The point wasn’t to change the person using drugs. It was to keep them from using, and possibly dying, alone. To give them another day of life.

Sometimes the endings were happy, sometimes not. But in each story, there was dignity instead of judgment. Caring instead of disregard.

I will never forget this conversation between mother and daughter.

Daughter-What do you want from me?
Mother-It would be good if you didn’t die today.

Here’s the link, if you’d like to listen. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/809/the-call