I’m lying in my bed today because I just had oral surgery. It’s not a big deal, but the anesthesia wipes me out, and it is possible that I will write or say or do loopy things as a result. Also, I need to be icing my face for 20 minutes at a time every 20 minutes, and it is hard to eat or read or type during those 20 minutes with an ice pack on my face. So I am doing something I never do. I’m watching lots of Netflix. I just watched a short documentary called Heroin(e) and I wanted to tell you all about it here because it was so compelling.
Heroin(e) follows three women who are responding with so much competence and compassion to the heroin epidemic in West Virginia. What I loved about it was the sense of common humanity I experienced.
We Are All Broken and Beautiful
Sure, I connected to the women who love the people on the streets. But even more so I connected to the men and women who are in recovery and using and walking the streets. There’s such an undercurrent of truth that every human life is one filled with brokenness and beauty. There’s so much pain and despair. There’s so much hope and promise.
It’s a story of healing, and of the movements of healing. Honesty, humility, and so much hope.
I want to stand on the side of healing—for myself and for everyone I encounter. And this film gave me one more glimpse of what happens when people choose to believe that everyone is broken and beautiful, worthy of healing, worthy of love.
More with Amy Julia:
- Curated Reading: Putting Down the Algorithm
- 6 Favorite Shows and Movies We Watched in 2022
- Friday Favorites and AJB Recommends
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