Drug addiction festers under the neglect of society, and to combat this neglect, MIT’s Rotaract club conducted a “Stay Safe” anti-drug walk, on the 9th of February, from Kamath Circle to Tiger Circle and back. The president of the organizing club, Sarvendra Agarwal, said, “People need awareness. The evils of drug addiction are worse now than ever, with nearly six deaths in the past week alone. We intend to make this the most powerful protest against drugs in thirty years.” The president, along with a few board members, could be seen working admirably, to organize protestors into a queue. Many posters condemning drug abuse like ‘Roll Shawrma, not a joint’ were made. Messages were circulated on WhatsApp groups that attempted to garner public interest in the event. Each protestor had a black ribbon tied to his arm. When the march concluded, the president delivered a moving speech as people lit candles in memory of the deceased.

On paper, this event was a huge step in fighting substance abuse. Reporting this march would have been an easy task if was one was to simply note and expand upon those above facts. For years, many evils of society have run rampant because of apathy. It’s about time that stops. What follows is the truth nobody wants to hear. The Rotaract did work hard, and they deserve credit for taking this necessary step. However, despite the hard work put in by the organizers, through no fault of theirs, the protest did not play out quite like it was envisioned.

There was a dire need to infuse maturity into some protesters as one could see people fighting over trivial things like holding catchy posters. Constant cribbing about the heat and eventual crowd dispersal at the sight of a food joint evidently showed that the crowd was spiritless. In fact, the only time the bored protesters at the back ran to the front was when a photographer was clicking a group picture of the protest.

The “Stay Safe” anti-drug walk was hence a necessary step in that it showed us how hopeless we are in the fight against drugs. Do we give up? No. Evil thrives when the corrupt indulge in it, and the good do nothing. Rotaract, as well as other clubs should conduct many more events to spread awareness until the seriousness and urgency of the drug threat gets hammered into the psyche of the average college tudent. Let the flame of the candles become an inferno that lays waste to the field of narcotics.

In ‘Bruce Almighty’ (2003;), God bestows his powers on an ordinary man, Bruce, who tries to test them out by parting his soup, mimicking Moses’ famous parting of the sea in ‘The Ten Commandments’. God calmly responds, “Parting your soup is not a miracle, Bruce. It’s a magic trick … A teenager who says “no” to drugs and “yes” to an education, that’s a miracle. People want me to do everything for them. But what they don’t realize is that they have the power. You want to see a miracle, son? Be the miracle.”