Speaking to two boys who were about to graduate from Pike County Juvenile Drug Court on Thursday, Elder Gregory Partman compared their challenges of staying sober to a popular children’s toy.
“What makes the weeble wobble, but not fall down?” Partman said, referring to the oval-shaped toys that can’t be knocked over.
It doesn’t fall because it has the right stuff inside to hold it up, Partman said.
The two youths completed the program and received recognition at an hour-long ceremony at the Pike County Courthouse. A third youth also was counted among the graduates, although he was unable to attend because he was at work.
Partman, pastor at Walker’s Chapel Freewill Baptist Church in McComb and director of the AmeriCorps Men and Boys of Distinction program for the McComb School District, encouraged to find strength within themselves.
“You have been given everything you need to be successful,” he said.
All three completed the three-phase program, which includes weekly classes, a curfew and random drug testing, and earned their plaques.
“Now you have an obligation,” Partman said. “(Your) obligation is that (you) have to fulfill this life that is started.”
He said they have to stand up and be responsible for themselves.
“There is an enemy that has invaded you perimeter and he is not 6-5, he is not 240 pounds and he isn’t ripped up, but you know how he comes,” Partman said. “He comes wrapped up, he comes in pill form.”
Partman said the boys would have to fight that enemy as if it were a hulking adversary, however.
He also encouraged the boys to look inside of themselves for what is right, because they — like everyone — have an innate desire to do what is right.
“That (desire) is why you didn’t give up, that is why you didn’t throw in the towel,” he said.
Partman even recounted how he experimented with drugs at a young age and had to find it within himself to stop.
He said faith can be the key to successfully evading the enemy now that the boys have a second chance, but they must first overcome a major obstacle.
“The most difficult person to beat in this world is not your enemy,” Partman said. “The most difficult person to beat in this world is yourself.”
He said it is difficult to beat yourself because you already know what the next move is going to be.
“What is in you is peeking through,” Partman said. “And now you have to allow what’s in you to make you great.”
