Peace Out

Life can be triggering; a social life with other humans. Nature hasn't triggered anything but good, in all the years I have dealt with her. My life with animals hasn't triggered anything bad, either. Animals are more of a flood of joy than anything else. But interaction with other people is problematic at times...it is the same for all who have an MI, (mental illness.)

I believe that everyone has that trait, one way or the other; we all fight, or love, at our peril. And the truth is, I don't know why I am labeled the way I am...I don't feel any different than anyone else. I mean, I don't think I express any emotion that is outside of the human range. Of course I don't.

Some well-worn posts on FB and some news stories do make it seem as if people with MIs do feel things no one else does. But this is nonsense...people with MIs are people all the same. It just seems that my reactions to differing events is too much of a reaction for some. An example is my deepest rage and fear, and outrage and sometimes love, is expressed in a way that is too much: for my family, for others I know and for strangers. "Drama Queen," "Too intense." I have heard it all.


Despite my jokes, and the controversy raging in the news about Newtown and the 'gun debate', I don't really take an anti-Evil pill every morning. People with MIs are not innately evil, anymore than anyone else...but the times, they are a changing. The captains who perpetuated the massacre at My Lai, or Wounded Knee are held responsible for terrible events. They aren't slapped with the label of Mental Illness and THEN held responsible.

Once again, humans have looked at the question, "What is it about us that makes us do evil?" and have been fooled into thinking that a question that can be put so easily and concisely, can be answered in an easy and concise way with two words, "Mental Illness."

Humans have been violent through all of history, and a simple two word answer is not an answer at all, but a sound byte. Answering the Slaughter of the Innocents with the diagnosis of 'mental illness' is just too pat. Aberrations and evil are illnesses. But I see it as a genetic defect and a nurture defect. It is also a societal defect. 

But all of that will be flushed down the toilet in the debates. Has already been. I just ask that, if you want to slap the label of mental illness on distorted thinking coupled with aggressive action, then we think of some different words for personality disorders. Instead of lumping the two groups all together and throwing the baby out with the bathwater, as Granny used to say.

As for guns...I am a pacifist, but have pulled a Glock on an intruder trying to break into my home. I thought of killing a stranger, and decided against it. I decided I wanted to see whom I was killing or wounding. After that, I learned to move around my house quietly, in total darkness, with a frying pan and a heavy iron bar. No flies on me.

And it is my considered opinion, that everyone's 'right' to a material thing, a gun, does not supplant everyone's innate right to Life, Liberty and our peaceful Pursuits. Rights do not belong to material things. Rights belong to humans and animals and the earth (as an environmental being.) Nor do I believe a law should give anyone any 'right' over my body, over and above what I consider my well being. Just throwing that in to let you know how I really feel about Life, the Universe, and Everything (Douglas Adams.)

It is good to look for an answer to evil, and aggression. It is not good to think the answer will be simple. But assault rifles are simple machines for a single purpose and are shallow enough to be answered in a simple way...by being banned.

These are all the answers I have today. Tomorrow I will have more answers, and the day after.

And to my Pdoc peeps, sorry about the triggers and Peace Out. Core mindfulness is always the answer. Breathe. Love you.