Hey, ((((((Tim))))))

Interesting viewpoint.

Even though "society" has gotten more 'civilized' about mental illness in some ways -- it really hasn't.

Do you keep your mouth shut and not tell anyone that you have 'issues'??!!

Or, do you shout it from the rooftop -- I HAVE ISSUES!!??

Personally, I am of the rooftop-shouting persuasion. I've done a HUGE AMOUNT of hard work to get to the place that I'm in now. It seems like such a waste to learn all this and to not pass it on to someone that can, hopefully, use it.

I figure if someone doesn't like my rooftop-shouting, they can read something else -- there's tons of stuff in the world to read.

Even though the mental illness is what I've struggled with most of my life, the compassion isn't just for those who are just starting on the path that I've been on for ages. I like to do research. If I find something about PSP or MS or a new treatment for epilepsy, I try to pass it on.

Tim, you might very well have character flaws. It's taken me a lifetime to figure out that 100% of the inhabitants of this planet have character flaws Just because someone gave us a label at some point in our lives doesn't mean that we're any more defective that anybody else in the universe. Maybe "they" just never showed up to pick up their label We're all more alike than we are different.

You know, Tim, when I was a kid my Dad actually taught me that I should hang all my clothes hangers facing in the same direction in case there was a fire -- that way I could grab all my clothes and get out of the house fast.

It took me until I was 50 years old and my neighbors' house caught on fire -- a bad-bad, fast-moving fire -- to realize that you're more concerned with getting the kids and the handicapped adult and the bed-ridden Father out of the house. No one gave a FIG for the darn clothes.

We spend our whole lives trying to learn lessons that are forced on us by dysfunctional parents or other adults or that are forced on us by our mis-firing brains -- only to find out that a lot of the crap that we worry about DOESN'T REALLY MATTER.

I still hang the hangers facing all in the same direction. But, I don't FIX IT when others don't do the same as me.

I used to actually go buy new stockings if I had a ladder in one before work. Now, I don't give a ship.

All that crap I wasted my time learning doesn't matter.

As for me, I'm gonna keep SHOUTING FROM THE ROOFTOPS because it has to be done and the more people that do it, the more acceptable it becomes to be **ME** and **YOU**.

:GRIN: BIG HUGS (and love).

Barb