Oct 1, 20224 min read

A Letter to My 1000 People

Written by our 2022 Homecoming Candidate, Alex Costanza.

A few weeks ago I was watching the sunset with my older sister, having a deep and therapeutic conversation about our lives. We discussed all of our hopes and dreams over a warm cup of tea and a view of the horizon.

Not to be cliche, but we were having a full blown main character moment.

In this existential chat, my sister said something that caused an immediate moment of enlightenment, and consequently, made writing this super daunting blog post way less scary.

I sparked this conversation by sharing some larger ‘life’ questions that I think many of us mull over in our early 20s: How do I find my passions? Why do I matter? Why does anyone matter? It’s almost impossible to make positive change, so why bother?

Can you tell I am a pessimist?

She turned to me with the expression I’ve come to know and love as her, ‘I’m about to blow your mind’ face and said, “Alex, the average person knows 1000 people. And, assuming that’s true, all those people know 1000 more. So even the average human being is just one person away from a network of a million.”

She continues on to tell me that she learned this information while studying the work of clinical psychologist, Jordan Peterson. Peterson situates each individual in the center of their network of a million as a way of conceptualizing ourselves in a world of 7 billion. Knowing that you’re only “two persons away from a billion,” prevents us from shirking the responsibility of being, saying, or doing anything.

When confronted with Petersons words of wisdom through my sister’s comfortingly sarcastic voice, I realized the importance of my my passions, interests, obsessions, and the importance of my being.

For the sake of others.

It sounds REALLY cheesy, but, for real, it’s much easier than we think to make a whole seventh of the world a better place.

So this blog post is me using my network (and the resources that Virginia Tech provides), to make a difference for a cause that I am passionate about in the hopes that you will share with your network, and that this information will eventually reach the 1 million that Jordan Peterson claims I have access to.

This October, I will be running for Virginia Tech Homecoming Royalty on my charitable platform of Harm Reduction and Addiction Awareness.

Unfortunately, many members of my family struggle with addiction. It’s a disease that is more common, debilitating, and dehumanizing than most, yet receives less grace than any. My young life was shaped by watching various periods of recovery and relapse and subsequently shame on the face of people that I admire very much.

By the will of whatever higher power you believe in, if any, I do not struggle with substance use disorder, and, higher power or not, I owe this in large part to the practice of harm reduction.

For people reading this that are unfamiliar with harm reduction, it is a form of risk management to address substance use that is proactive, free of stigma, and most importantly life saving. Harm reduction can look a lot of different ways ranging from Alcoholics Anonymous, to drug education, to carrying Narcan, to even just knowing your usage limits.

The point of approaching addiction with harm reduction, is to lead those affected through a healthy recovery process by providing a safe and judgment free environment.

I’ll say it again for the people in the back.

The point of harm reduction is to mitigate and prevent the negative consequences of drug and alcohol use through a fact based and JUDGMENT FREE approach. To understand, to educate, and to respect others.

I invite you to think of it like this: if someone you know is struggling with substance use and your response is “that’s bad, don’t do that,” they will not magically stop. In fact, the stigma of their disease will push them further away from seeking help. This kind of judgment can be ultimately life threatening.

Another example of harm reduction is Naloxone – the opioid overdose reversal drug. You might be familiar with its commercial name, “Narcan”. It comes in the form of injection or nasal spray, and it is important for everyone to be trained in usage and to have it as handy as their first aid kit, especially in a college town. In 2021 alone, we lost 2667 lives to overdose in Virginia. That was higher than gun and motor related deaths combined. You never know who in your life could be struggling and it is imperative that we are all prepared for the possibility of an overdose in our Blacksburg community.

There is a lot more to harm reduction than I am able to describe in one post, so I will link an article that explains its principles below.

All that being said, thank goodness for my main character, golden hour moment with my sister. Her words were my own form of harm reduction. It reminded me why what I do and say matters. Through my campaign efforts I hope to give the Virginia Tech and Blacksburg community the tools they need to help themselves and to help their loved ones.

Thank you for reading and don’t forget to spread the word through your networks!