The term mental illness is one that I've long thought needs replaced. We say mentally ill and mentally disabled, which is still better than crazy or nutty, which society used to say a couple of decades ago. We're improving, but we're not there yet.
A mental condition, like schizophrenia, or bipolar, is one that most people are born with, or acquire in life. It is not something that they chose. It is something that happens to them, over which people only have some influence on how to handle and try to live.
Just a few years ago people were calling me and people like me sexually sick, perverted, wrong. For being gay. Heck, people still do. Over a way of being that I did not choose, that is just a part of me, a central part of me. It is not ugly, or shameful, or "fixable." Wouldn't it be nice if we just celebrated and helped each other live well?
So I don't like any human soul being called sick that is not mainstream. Implying shame over something over which they don't decide. We don't do that for people with cardiac problems, diabetes, stature variances, skin diversity (well, we're trying), cultural medley's, sexual identities, abilities, so let's stop doing that for people with mental uniquenesses of various types.
Let's make them a part of us. In a country saturated with nearly-weekly shootings, gun-violence by individuals who are unsatisfied or marginalized, let's prevent at least some of this by including people into the mainstream, helping everyone feel welcome and valued (even if a person has a head tick movement, or doesn't respond to nuance, or hears voices). Let's acknowledge that some of the terrorist exists inside each of us, not just outside of us in foreign territories. And knowing that, we can recognize our own part in marginalizing others and making people outcasts in their own homelands. Think: how does it feel to be on the other side of hearing these labels?
Next time you see a headline in the newspaper, or hear a conversation about them mentally ill, perhaps you can bring some non-violence to your little nook by speaking about all people with compassion, and maybe use other words more suited to what you believe. And when you see a beautiful person like this on the bus, in the grocery store, in your church, you can be a personal friend. Be someone that includes, prevents, protects, knows, understands, reaches out, blesses, calms, and celebrates.
A mental condition, like schizophrenia, or bipolar, is one that most people are born with, or acquire in life. It is not something that they chose. It is something that happens to them, over which people only have some influence on how to handle and try to live.
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| in a forest near Seattle |
Just a few years ago people were calling me and people like me sexually sick, perverted, wrong. For being gay. Heck, people still do. Over a way of being that I did not choose, that is just a part of me, a central part of me. It is not ugly, or shameful, or "fixable." Wouldn't it be nice if we just celebrated and helped each other live well?
So I don't like any human soul being called sick that is not mainstream. Implying shame over something over which they don't decide. We don't do that for people with cardiac problems, diabetes, stature variances, skin diversity (well, we're trying), cultural medley's, sexual identities, abilities, so let's stop doing that for people with mental uniquenesses of various types.
Let's make them a part of us. In a country saturated with nearly-weekly shootings, gun-violence by individuals who are unsatisfied or marginalized, let's prevent at least some of this by including people into the mainstream, helping everyone feel welcome and valued (even if a person has a head tick movement, or doesn't respond to nuance, or hears voices). Let's acknowledge that some of the terrorist exists inside each of us, not just outside of us in foreign territories. And knowing that, we can recognize our own part in marginalizing others and making people outcasts in their own homelands. Think: how does it feel to be on the other side of hearing these labels?
Next time you see a headline in the newspaper, or hear a conversation about them mentally ill, perhaps you can bring some non-violence to your little nook by speaking about all people with compassion, and maybe use other words more suited to what you believe. And when you see a beautiful person like this on the bus, in the grocery store, in your church, you can be a personal friend. Be someone that includes, prevents, protects, knows, understands, reaches out, blesses, calms, and celebrates.
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