Wow. It’s like a death in the family of some
sort. You don’t see the relative, but
you know him/her. There is a common
maternal link that bonds you. Mental
illness. His eyes may be blue and yours,
brown, but you are relatives nonetheless.
You have not seen him/her since grandmother died in the upstairs back
room, but then you get that phone call one day.
There’s been a tragedy and the relative is gone. Then the details begin to tell the story
about why nobody saw him/her for a while.
You learn about innocent people who became victimized by that thing we
keep telling people to trust us about.
It only gets worse because the ground we stood on cracked somehow. Daggonit!
So,
we are faced with a tragedy committed by a member of our family and we are at a
loss for words, maybe? I dunno. What I do know are the mixed emotions that
must have ran through all of us: hurt,
pain, anger, how? Why? When will this gun thing end for everybody? Emotions are mixed when you work so hard to
tell society we can live normal, productive lives with treatment ,and
recovery. It's still true, but somebody seems to have
just that and still there is a tragedy.
(I don’t know all the details… just pondering from headlines, blurbs,
skimming). I just want to know one
thing: when will this gun violence sTOP! Now, let me first say that my condolences go
out to the Navy Yard victims and their families and to the assailant as
well because he, too, was a victim.
Then
I want to say that gun violence does not discriminate. It does not discriminate. It does not discriminate! We fight the good fight to tear down stigmas
and stereotypes and – I heard a phrase – ‘friendly fire’ – happens.
Well,
I know it happens on every battle field, but it saddens me and even hurts any
way. Where does the mental health
community go from here? Do I take down
my shingle and return all this pretty pink stationery? Do you get back under your security blanket
and let your destiny collect dust? HECK
NO! We continue the good fight because
while people may say, “told you so,” or “na-na-nana-na…,” millions of us in
recovery are the demonstration that good sound treatment works! We are products like everybody else affected
by societal ills such as gun violence and legislators who will not take
responsibility to take control of the poison affecting you, me, and them
(everybody: children, ‘normal’ people,
etc.). Thus, we are just one more
demonstration that (1) mental illness is NOT the epidemic killing people in
massive numbers, but weapons are. They
are too easily and readily assessable and couple that with all the ingredients
of the poison (movies, gun stores, (assault weapons), wicked songs, gangs, irresponsible leadership, bad
laws, etc.), anybody and everybody can become a tragic headline whether it be in the
work place, strip mall, school, or even what should be the safest place; the church.
All over the world, anybody can turn on the news and
there is gun (weapons) violence. History
tells us that sooner or later it will hit home (any home) like the drunk driver
or bullies. The Navy Yard tragedy is one
more way for society to learn and grow through this experience. We continue to advocate for mental health
treatment, community living, recovery successes, the American Dream! The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
continues to be the leadership towards that end. And we stay in the race as they say,
too!
Guns (assault weapons) and violence are out of control in
our nation. We have as a society lost
the strong value of morality. We keep
giving our children weapons to play with either on videos, video games,
entertainment movies, songs, birthday parties, etc. We give teenagers unlimited, unsupervised
access to harmful technology. Guns (assault weapons) can
be purchased way too easily and authorities know it. I’m talking civilian here, of course. The military will certainly review policy and
procedures, but just imagine an outbreak of malaria. If the disease is never arrested, the
contamination spreads uncontrollably.
Does the disease care that it is feasting off millions? No. I
digress long enough to say that as long as the weapons are available as they
are; anybody and everybody will, and can, gain access to them just like malaria
until the weapons are under lock and key with legislative enactment, etc. It won’t totally solve the problem, but it
will save thousands upon thousands of lives analogous to the way a vaccine for
malaria does.
Recovery is a challenge we each obtained through
hard work, discipline, and mental wellness maintenance designed specifically
for us individually. While this tragedy
is perhaps leaving a little discouragement in your mind or a co-worker who
insist on jokes at the water cooler, rest assured that a few may laugh,
discourage you, etc., but the majority stands firmly behind you. Get busy putting that shingle back up and
let’s go! (I hope I’m the only
one
using pink stationery… I didn’t mean to let that slip … shucks!).
See ya soon,
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