Letters to the Editor 10-06-1999
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
- Mental Health - Days Of Kosciuszko - Libertarian Answer
Mental Health
Editor, Times-Union:I would like to share a story with all of you. This story concerns the experiences and feelings of a friend of mine. He has been trying to deal with the "STIGMA" of mental illness for several years and would like his story told. Our hope is that his story might make a difference in how each of us views and treats others who have a mental illness. Please listen to his story, as told to me, with your hearts as well as your minds.
"I am thirty years old and have been diagnosed with major chronic depression. I was first diagnosed back in 1990. It probably surfaced even earlier than that. I believe there is a dark cloud hanging over the term 'mentally ill.' An ordinary Joe-off-the-street has a lot of misconceptions about being mentally ill. Some people say 'it's all in your head' or 'he's all right, he'll get over it.' Some people wonder why we just can't pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps and go on.
"To put it bluntly, it's not that easy. No one can understand the anger, frustration and sadness involved in living with this disease (yes, it really is a disease; just like high blood pressure, heart disease, asthma, etc.) without experiencing it for themselves.
"My main symptom is fatigue. It feels like you have spent a hard day working outside, even though you may have hardly done anything at all. This tiredness is felt way down in your bones. I sleep a lot, sometimes eight and one-half to nine hours a day. But that pales in comparison to the sixteen or seventeen hours per day which I have done. Some people's appetites are affected (eating more or less than normal). Sometimes it's hard to concentrate. I have had memory problems as well. I have had intense feelings of hopelessness, that I can't seem to do anything right. I get tired of fighting this. I have thought about suicide many times, though I have never made any sort of attempt at it.
"There are many drugs to control depression. Some work splendidly, some don't. The big problem is everyone's brain chemistry is different. So it's really trial and error finding something that works. My first medication was Prozac. In nine years I've been on five other medications. Last fall, I finally found something that works for me.
"This last nine years has been the hardest time in my life. On two separate occasions things were so bad I voluntarily admitted myself to the hospital because of 'suicidal ideation' (thoughts about suicide). I have actually jammed a butcher knife one half inch into a butcher block counter because I didn't want to jam it into myself.
"This has had a disastrous effect on my job history. I have had more jobs than I can count. I really am a good and reliable worker but all employers see is excessive absences. All of this is made twice as hard when you're ill."
Unfortunately, this young man's story is not uncommon. His illness can never be cured, but it can get better with proper treatment. People dealing with a mental illness are not second-class citizens and should be treated in the same way we would treat someone with heart disease, cancer, etc. Please help make the community that we live in a better place for these people to live and work. They are just like you and me, the only difference is that they must fight a battle just to get thorough each day. Let's applaud their courage and do all that we can to see that their illness is treated for what it really is - a disease - not as a black mark upon their whole life.
Karen Joyce, Leesburg
Days Of Kosciuszko
Editor, Times-Union:On behalf of the Steering Committee for the ninth annual Back to the Days of Kosciuszko and Kosciusko Community Senior Services, many thanks go out to the volunteers, festival participants, local businesses who lent their support and festival attendees for a successful event. The committee would also like to express its appreciation to the hundreds of area fourth graders who participated in the essay contest and who attended the outing to the site on Friday. I am sure the fourth graders join with our committee in thanking Pizza Hut for their sponsorship of the pizza party to recognize the essay contest winners. Also, thank you to the committee members and volunteers, who are all unpaid, for donating their time and efforts to the success of bringing this event together. The commitment of the re-enactors to their hobby and of our committee and volunteers to Kosciusko Community Senior Services allows us to donate all proceeds received from the gate receipts to Kosciusko Community Senior Services.
Merry Huffer, Event Coordinator
Libertarian Answer
Editor, Times-Union:The voters of Warsaw and Silver Lake have an opportunity in the upcoming election to take a small step toward reducing the size of government. Daniel Stevens and Gale Owens are running for City Council in Warsaw and Silver Lake, respectively, on the Libertarian Party ticket.
If you are tired of being taxed to death to pay the wages, health care and retirement benefits of politicians and bureaucrats who are living better than you at the expense of you and your family then you cannot continue to vote Democrat or Republican. If you are sick and tired of your right to keep and bear arms being under constant attack by politicians seeking votes, then you should vote Libertarian. If you are tired of government meddling in every aspect of you and your family's life, then you must vote Libertarian. Libertarians believe, as the Framers of the Constitution believed, that government will take over your life if you are not forever vigilant. That is why the Bill of Rights was made a part of the Constitution. The Bill of Rights is to protect the people from the government. Libertarians believe in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. If the action of Democrats and Republicans in public office is an indication of how they feel about the Constitution, I can only conclude that they care very little about their sworn oath to uphold it. Don't wait until it's too late. Tell the two major parties that it is no longer business as usual, if they want your vote they will have to earn it. Make your votes really say something. Vote Libertarian!
Charles Carnes, Warsaw
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- Mental Health - Days Of Kosciuszko - Libertarian Answer
Mental Health
Editor, Times-Union:I would like to share a story with all of you. This story concerns the experiences and feelings of a friend of mine. He has been trying to deal with the "STIGMA" of mental illness for several years and would like his story told. Our hope is that his story might make a difference in how each of us views and treats others who have a mental illness. Please listen to his story, as told to me, with your hearts as well as your minds.
"I am thirty years old and have been diagnosed with major chronic depression. I was first diagnosed back in 1990. It probably surfaced even earlier than that. I believe there is a dark cloud hanging over the term 'mentally ill.' An ordinary Joe-off-the-street has a lot of misconceptions about being mentally ill. Some people say 'it's all in your head' or 'he's all right, he'll get over it.' Some people wonder why we just can't pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps and go on.
"To put it bluntly, it's not that easy. No one can understand the anger, frustration and sadness involved in living with this disease (yes, it really is a disease; just like high blood pressure, heart disease, asthma, etc.) without experiencing it for themselves.
"My main symptom is fatigue. It feels like you have spent a hard day working outside, even though you may have hardly done anything at all. This tiredness is felt way down in your bones. I sleep a lot, sometimes eight and one-half to nine hours a day. But that pales in comparison to the sixteen or seventeen hours per day which I have done. Some people's appetites are affected (eating more or less than normal). Sometimes it's hard to concentrate. I have had memory problems as well. I have had intense feelings of hopelessness, that I can't seem to do anything right. I get tired of fighting this. I have thought about suicide many times, though I have never made any sort of attempt at it.
"There are many drugs to control depression. Some work splendidly, some don't. The big problem is everyone's brain chemistry is different. So it's really trial and error finding something that works. My first medication was Prozac. In nine years I've been on five other medications. Last fall, I finally found something that works for me.
"This last nine years has been the hardest time in my life. On two separate occasions things were so bad I voluntarily admitted myself to the hospital because of 'suicidal ideation' (thoughts about suicide). I have actually jammed a butcher knife one half inch into a butcher block counter because I didn't want to jam it into myself.
"This has had a disastrous effect on my job history. I have had more jobs than I can count. I really am a good and reliable worker but all employers see is excessive absences. All of this is made twice as hard when you're ill."
Unfortunately, this young man's story is not uncommon. His illness can never be cured, but it can get better with proper treatment. People dealing with a mental illness are not second-class citizens and should be treated in the same way we would treat someone with heart disease, cancer, etc. Please help make the community that we live in a better place for these people to live and work. They are just like you and me, the only difference is that they must fight a battle just to get thorough each day. Let's applaud their courage and do all that we can to see that their illness is treated for what it really is - a disease - not as a black mark upon their whole life.
Karen Joyce, Leesburg
Days Of Kosciuszko
Editor, Times-Union:On behalf of the Steering Committee for the ninth annual Back to the Days of Kosciuszko and Kosciusko Community Senior Services, many thanks go out to the volunteers, festival participants, local businesses who lent their support and festival attendees for a successful event. The committee would also like to express its appreciation to the hundreds of area fourth graders who participated in the essay contest and who attended the outing to the site on Friday. I am sure the fourth graders join with our committee in thanking Pizza Hut for their sponsorship of the pizza party to recognize the essay contest winners. Also, thank you to the committee members and volunteers, who are all unpaid, for donating their time and efforts to the success of bringing this event together. The commitment of the re-enactors to their hobby and of our committee and volunteers to Kosciusko Community Senior Services allows us to donate all proceeds received from the gate receipts to Kosciusko Community Senior Services.
Merry Huffer, Event Coordinator
Libertarian Answer
Editor, Times-Union:The voters of Warsaw and Silver Lake have an opportunity in the upcoming election to take a small step toward reducing the size of government. Daniel Stevens and Gale Owens are running for City Council in Warsaw and Silver Lake, respectively, on the Libertarian Party ticket.
If you are tired of being taxed to death to pay the wages, health care and retirement benefits of politicians and bureaucrats who are living better than you at the expense of you and your family then you cannot continue to vote Democrat or Republican. If you are sick and tired of your right to keep and bear arms being under constant attack by politicians seeking votes, then you should vote Libertarian. If you are tired of government meddling in every aspect of you and your family's life, then you must vote Libertarian. Libertarians believe, as the Framers of the Constitution believed, that government will take over your life if you are not forever vigilant. That is why the Bill of Rights was made a part of the Constitution. The Bill of Rights is to protect the people from the government. Libertarians believe in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. If the action of Democrats and Republicans in public office is an indication of how they feel about the Constitution, I can only conclude that they care very little about their sworn oath to uphold it. Don't wait until it's too late. Tell the two major parties that it is no longer business as usual, if they want your vote they will have to earn it. Make your votes really say something. Vote Libertarian!
Charles Carnes, Warsaw
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