Are the Kids Alright? Is our Silence Killing them?

Has anyone seen the film, Beautiful Boy?

The film tells the story of a bright, loved young man who becomes addicted to crystal meth? He had a loving family but despite this still became addicted.

It is possible it was his wider community that was responsible for him to become vulnerable? Is it possible Finland is a fertile ground for young people to become vulnerable?

Finns value personal space. Sometimes they avoid eye contract or reluctantly say hello to a friendly stranger.

Does this need for privacy get in the way of building community and protecting the people we care about? Young children, the elderly - people that may be vulnerable.

Newcomers say "that's the way they (finns) are"

Have Finns always been like that? Or is this a modern phenoomonen. Did it occur when people moved from their established communities in the countryside to the city?

Did this emigration from the countryside to the city along with advances in technology and in recent years Covid create the ideal conditions for loneliness and drug addiction to increase?

Do we need to take more interest in our community? Are we commiting a grave injustice by taking less interest in the name of respecting each other's space?

Is it possible to have an unhealthy boundary with independence? Can that also become an addiction?

Is it possible people who have moved from the countryside or another country build the community of their dreams to make sure no-one on cracks falls through the cracks or is forgotten in Finland?

Maybe Finland has what foreigners are missing and foreigners have what Finland is missing.

What do you think? Join me and my friends, Finns and foreigners, to discuss this and more.

The boy becomes a man and eventually overcomes his addiction and lives a full and happy life.