JARED

I almost didn't post this photo because it was just too personally heartbreaking and close to me but since I shared the "Relapse" story at such great length I thought this might be an important follow up to Jared's story after he was 5150'd after his total and utter relapse which I actually captured the first moments of within the historic DTLA hotel Jared and I decided to explore one day with no intension of "using" crystal meth....In retrospect I don't think I'll never understand his thought process but it turned out to be a horrible decision on his part. Well, after Jared was released from his 5150 hold I continued to wrap up my photo documentation of the various lives of people living on Skid Row in DTLA...That is until I received a text from one of my oldest friends living in Detroit that his brother had passed away from a long struggle with heroin addiction. It was simply to much for me to process along with my project and I basically had to just call it quits on the spot because I was beginning to feel like I was coming unravelled mentally and emotionally very quickly. My sister must of heard it in my voice because she immediately sent me a one way ticket back to Detroit to spend sometime with the family and get away from the Skid Row madness....I left immediately! As I was walking down the street I couldn't believe my eyes! It was Jared and I was so happy I would get some closure by bidding him farewell....He was so very very distant and not much was said but he mentioned something about me having a profound effect on his life and I corrected him and said it was the other way around....I really had to go and it was a really difficult goodbye and I managed to snap one more shot of Jared but my goodness life is just so intense sometimes and drug addiction is even more heart breaking then I ever could have imagined it being, especially seeing the ravishing effects first hand! Please God help my friend Jared and get him the help he needs and spare him....He is one of the greatest kids I've ever met in my life!
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