Namaste

I was stopped at a red light in downtown Nashville today when I looked over and saw a "crazy person" at the bus stop. He was by himself, facing a blown up map of the bus routes but clearly not reading it. He was talking quite animatedly to himself and gesturing wildly. He would sort of turn his body periodically, not to look at passersby, but just as part of gesturing like some odd form of dance.

I am certainly no expert, but my initial diagnosis is schizophrenia, which tells me a couple things:

1 - This human's behavior was so odd I had to label it to arrive at an explanation.
2 - Anyone who does anything exceedingly weird or out of the ordinary in public (and is talking to themselves and seemingly unaware of the people around them) MUST be a schizophrenic.

(for the sake of this post, I will continue with my assumed diagnosis)

Schizophrenic is a word that I absolutely hate. It completely dehumanizes a person. This is why you might hear me use the phrase "person (man or woman) with schizophrenia." Language is a funny tool. The words you choose to call an object shape your view of that object just as your view of an object shapes the language you choose to describe it. You see how meaning is co-created here? When I or you or anybody else looks at someone and says he or she is a schizophrenic, I/you/whoever has just equated that person with his or her illness. Then, there is nothing left to say about that person. He or she IS their diagnosis. Now let's drug them up and lock them away because they are scary and I don't know how to deal with them and their crazy psychosis thankyouverymuch. It's easy to lock away a schizophrenic (we've been doing it forever). It's not as easy to lock away a human being (who may have a mental illness).

"Why do you care so much?" This is the question you might be asking me right now, so let me explain. This is just my belief. Deep in the core of every individual on this planet, we share something. You might call it a soul, the Holy Spirit, God, the matter or energy that makes up the universe... It doesn't matter, though the language you choose to describe "it" will ultimately shape how you view the world and other people and thus how you act towards them.

Side note: Maybe if we could show more compassion to others we could come to see life as sacred and other people as divine.

Besides, how different am I from a schizophrenic man? There is research indicating that heredity plays a key factor in the illness. So either I got lucky with the genes my parents passed on OR I have yet to experience the trigger that could ultimately lead me down the spiraling path to psychosis.

When I catch myself in the act of judging or shunning someone with schizophrenia, I am failing to acknowledge what the deepest part of my soul knows: there is not much difference between you and me. This failure of acknowledgement is lethal for the shunned and scorned and is nothing more than an illusion of safety for those of us who got lucky.

Compassion and Impeccable Language. Imagine what one could do if they made it their life's work to cultivate these things.