Smiley

At Thirteen my Nickname was Smiley
As a Young Child
I was Happy
I was Able
And Clever
Then I hit Puberty and
the Turmoil Began
I wanted Desperately to be a Nun
But I Knew that to do that
After having a Lover
Was not Honest
And then Instead of being treated
As a Lady
Because of Psychiatric Illness
I am Laid Bare
And Vulnerable
I had an Intelligent Mind
And Observed first Hand
The Implications of Stigma
It filters through Law
And through the Medical Professions
We sit Back and Judge
And turn a Blind Eye
To Other Human Beings Suffering
At Worst We Laugh
And at Best We don't Judge
It is for God to Judge
That is the Question
I Ask
The Truth Always Surfaces
And Our Present System
Needs to Step Up to the Plate
And Invest in their Patients Lives
Rather than Condemn them as "Mental"
Mental Health at Present is a Farce
I've experienced Hostility
All the Way Through the Health System
If it is Enough for a Psychiatrist
to Lash back at you
And say that "My Behaviour was so inappropriate it is not a Wonder you father tried to Murder You"
When they Know what Happened
And Yet they Stand Back
And Condemn
Then the Whole of the Health System
And the Legal System
Needs to Change Inherent Philosophy's
So that We don't Leave Victims of Crime
Languishing
In Desperation
Wondering Why you are
So Despised
Drugging the Client
and then Tossing them back into the Community
Into the Same Hostile Environment
Is not a Fair Way to Treat People
We must be Curious
And not Obtuse
And Brutal
With Obvious Condemnation
Most of All
We must Honour them
As We would a Shell Shocked Soldier
This World is Brutal to the Vulnerable
Is that What Jesus and God Intended?
Everyone of Us is Precious
Let Us not Draw a Line in the Sand
And thereafter Stand Back and Condemn
PLEASE