Mail, Medications, and ME/
September 10, 2007 Stay with me on this story even if it seems to have a long beginning. It does have a point. As those of you who have been reading this blog for awhile know my wife and I just moved from a farm in eastern Kentucky to Glen Alpine, NC a few months ago. I still drive to Johnson City, Tennessee to get some of my medical care. The fact is it is hard to break in a new psychiatrist or psychologist every time you move. So I drive the 2 and ½ hours one way to get my psychiatric care from folks I am comfortable with.
On my way back on my last trip I stopped at the U.S. Post Office in the little town of Erwin, TN to mail three envelopes I needed to get weighed to see how much postage was needed. I was mailing a booklet called “Serious Mental Illness: Seeking A Comprehensive Christian Response” which was developed by the Task Force on Serious Mental Illness of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy of the Presbyterian Church (USA). I had just purchased the three envelopes at Wal-Mart up the road and they only had the kind with bubble in them. I was mailing the booklets to the pastor of the Glen Alpine United Methodist Church, a person in a federal prison, and a friend in San Diego, CA. The envelopes all were sealed and had my return address on them indicating I was from Glen Alpine.
The lady who was serving me began asking questions about the envelopes and then called a man over. They even asked me where I had been and where I was going? Where I lived and why was I mailing my mail from Erwin? Remember, I had just finished my visit with the mental health professionals and was on my way home. Now I was being interrogated by the postal police. I told them to open the envelopes and look for themselves if they did not believe me, but those folks were not about to open those envelopes for no amount of money. Finally, after about ten minutes they let me go and I guess my envelopes went out. I have not heard from the folks yet if they got them.
The entire time I was on the verge of losing it. I don’t mean simply getting angry. I mean I almost could not mentally handle the situation. I had just been through a tough session with my psychologist. My medications are not adjusted very well at the moment. I just went through the trauma of a move and a wreck. I did not take the interrogation at the Post Office well.
When I lived on the streets I hid from anyone in uniform because I knew they would hassle me. I to this day obey all speed limits trying to avoid having to speak with a person with a uniform on. Of course I did have to recently when Patty and I were involved in the car wreck. The folks in the Post Office had on uniforms. It was not fun.
The point is we are coming up on the 6th anniversary of 9/11 and I know it has changed things for all of us, but for some of us it has made our lives much more difficult. The more paranoid that chronically normal people get the harder it is for those of us with a serious mental illness to navigate in public. People that use to give us a break or overlook something we did no longer do.
Do you know how many of us get locked up each year just for simple trespass? Do you know how many of us get a felony charge against us because of something that happens during getting arrested for trespass or during getting picked up for involuntary commitment? Do you know how many of us die at the hands of the police? Of our care givers? Or how many of us of all ages simply give up and take our own lives because we can’t navigate this world any longer.
Folks let me tell you what I believe and you can call it part of my delusional system if you want. I believe the hand of God was on my shoulder in that Post Office in Erwin, TN the other day or Patty would have had to come get me out of the jail or hospital over there. I believe He kept me sane when the postal workers went postal on me trying to mail out a booklet published by a church about mental illness. The only thing I have to rely on sometimes is that God walks with me.
Please share your faith and show the Grace of God to my fellow sojourners. We all need HIM.
You can reach me directly at [email protected]
HOMEPAGE: http:// www.geocities.com/eecoop_2000/ed.html
