How Your Perspective Changes

George Jung is a free man.

Has been for over a year now. I missed his release. He walked out of prison on June 2, 2014.

George Jung was the real life cocaine kingpin played by Johnny Depp in "Blow" in 2001.

I love that movie. Have seen it many times.

In a strange and twisted way you feel for the guy when you watch the movie. One angle of the movie plays upon the hurtful way he consistently let his young daughter down because of his drug activities. You actually feel sympathetic for the man and even more so for his daughter, even though his lifestyle precluded a normal relationship as a parent.

Eventually he gets set up by guys he did business with and sentenced to 60 years.

He was part of the Medellin Cartel, which was responsible for up to 89% of the cocaine smuggled into the United States in the 1970's and 1980's.

George Jung was personally responsible for orchestrating the smuggling of massive amounts of cocaine into this country.

I kept tabs on the man over the years. Checking in periodically to see what his status was, wondering when he would be released, trolling his website.

His sentence was reduced and he ended up serving almost 20 years.

I was prepared to celebrate his release, to flippantly express my opinion that he was not that bad a guy, that all he did was sell drugs to a society that cannot exist without them.

I no longer hold that opinion.

My nephew Jonathan died from a heroin overdose at the age of 27.

I don't know how many people died from the cocaine that Jung sold, I don't know how many lives were ruined.

Considering the volume of business that he did I am guessing that the misery he caused was enormous.

My twisted mind used to celebrate people like Jung. Like Pablo Escobar. The free wheeling bad guy thing, the money, the lifestyle, the ballsy outlaw existence.

I thought it was cool because I despise the mediocrity, poverty and boredom forced upon most of us by the lives we live and by the rules that unfairly handicap us.

I still feel that way about typical middle to lower class existence but I was wrong to champion George Jung.

He was a son of a bitch who made an extravagant living profiting off the addictions of the weak, the downtrodden and the exploited.

I have become less flippant about the drug culture because of Jonathan.

When harsh reality blows up your life you need to change your perspective or continue to be the fool.