Drugs only help
To Tranquilize the Patient
Humanity must Accept
That if  we are to be
Compassionate to
The Mentally Ill
We must
FIRST
Ensure
Placement in the Work Force
Show them that there is Hope
Workhouses/Health Clinics
I Believe
Are the best Option
for Rural Communities
The Lives
Of the Young
And their Aptitudes
Must not be Sacrificed
Stigma destroys
Our Young People
With Mental Illness
If we are So Angry about Experimentation 
On Animals
We cannot go on with
This Inhumane
Approach to the Care
Of the Mentally Ill
I couldn't get a job
As a Tea Lady
At the Waikato University
Because I wrote that I was Bi-Polar
Or so I Guessed
Who Knows that might not be true
But do You get My Point
Psychiatric Medications
Only Help to Rob
A Person of their Faculties
In the long run
We need a Society
That Shields and gives
Them the Same Rights
As everyone else
For only then
Can We call it Justice
I could have done very Well
In the Work force
When I was Younger
Inertia and Unemployment
Are a Dangerous Trap
For the Disenfranchised 
We must See to it
That it Doesn't Happen
Hope is Important
to the Mentally Ill
Once again
I say "Treat them as Shell Shocked Comrades and always, always, treat them with Respect for their Psyche's have Suffered in the Present Health System.  As a Society We must move forward toward Compassion instead of Hatred of those Disabled by Mental Illness.  My Life has been pure torture for which I would be happy if Someone Shot me from behind so that I could let go this Mortal Despair and have a Fresh Start.  But it is for my Child and my Child's Children that I make this Plea.  Bi-Polar is Genetic and if the Gene were ever to Surface again I Hope that We can Provide more Dignity and Comfort for Psychiatric Survivors.  Employ them and Keep Society Safe.  And of course if You don't Employ them You are breeding Time Bombs!

These Days I just Sit
And Contemplate the Universe
I am
But a Shell
Of a Woman
From the Torment
And Torture
Of Bearing the Stigma
People
Wipe You
And You are
Left
Just Existing
And waiting
for 
Time
To bring
The Peace
Of Death
We cannot go on
Not offering people
The Sanctuary of Employment
If we think
That We Should
Not Experiment on Animals
We Should not Experiment 
On Human Beings
Unless We focus on giving
These People's Lives
Dignity and Purpose
If we Exaggerate People's failings
We will
Reap Bad Behaviour
If We accentuate
Their Strengths
We'll be getting Somewhere

Parliament knows me
As the Silly Young Woman
That made an Impassioned Plea
For Euthanasia
In 1995
Well I started off
Fantasizing that I could Maybe
Win the Argument
And Win the Right
To Euthanasia
In writing it
I have Discovered
What We need
To Help Our Young
Psychiatric Survivors
Workshops/Health Clinics
In towns where
there are Drug Problems
We All need
A Chance at Life
PEASE

It would be
Nice
To have Someone
Batting for My Side
Instead of bending
My Ear with Derision
And Judgment
I have been Undermined
And all but Eliminated
As a BAD Person
People say
Stop Playing the Victim
But I say
Victims Deserve Rights
Psychiatric Patients
Don't get those Rights
The State must Intervene
With More Constructive
Alternatives
For the Mentally Ill
PLEASE
Work focused Healing Centres
Perhaps a Union
for Psychiatric Patients????
Now that would be FUNNY
Perhaps a Tribunal
That was Objective
A Mediator for the Mentally Ill????
Just like a Disputes Tribunal

At thirteen I was
Nicknamed Smiley
Because I had a ready Smile
I was Clever at School
Worked Hard
And got a 75% Average in 6 Subjects
And I did it all for a Stereo
But I was
Born to a Family
Where Mental Illness
Makes People
Treat You
As if You are
Less
Than
Mortal
Young People
Need the Dignity
Of Work
To fit
In the Community
That is What I see

As the Future
Of Psychiatric care
Don't Condemn
+ Pity
Stand Alongside
As Comrades
Would We Look
Upon a Shell Shocked Soldier
With anything other than Respect
That is what the Psychiatrically Disabled People
Need Most
We Protect Society from the Mentally Ill
I Believe the Reverse
Is Desperately Needed

I think it would be Marvelous
Indeed
If I could Use
Sugarloaf Retreat
As a Catchment
For Psychologically Disabled Youth
If the Trust
Employed
Young Freshly Diagnosed People
And Showed them their
WORTH
Now that Would be
The Start of a New Era
In Rehabilitation
Of Our Youth
I Salute
And Pay Homage
To this Beautiful Earth
I would like to see it Take Off
As Pilot Schemes
For Disenfranchised Youth World Wide

Amen

I, personally, Would think it Splendid
If We treated Psychiatric Institutions
As Learning Institutions
Learn the Clients
Strong Points
And Settle them
Into Paid
Employment
Whereby these
People
Will Have 
Financial Independence
And FREEDOM 
from
Stigma
We Owe it to
Our Disabled
To treat Them
All
As Equals
Rather than
Disdain and Shun
Them
That is my
Simple Request
Let Us
Turn the Tide
And Reassure
Our Young
That there are
No Chasms
To Get Lost
Into
Psychiatric Patients
Are often
Forced Off
Into the Black Hole
We Owe it
To Our Children
And Our Children's Children
I Celebrate
That in the Future
We will
Save the Souls
Of those that
Come after Us
By Keeping them
Along Side as Comrades
In the Battle between
Life and Death
I wish I was that
Simple Soul
That Played the Piano Well
And wanted Only
Children
I am Proud
to Live
In New Zealand
But if We Care
About the Mentally Unwell
And We will Reassure them
And Offer them
Opportunity
to Participate
In the Workforce
A System where
The Head Psychiatric Nurse
At Kingseat
Advices you NOT to Admit
to Mental Illness
Instead I Wore
It Gladly
When You are
"Touched"
Nine Year Old Children
Can pick it And Judge You
Accordingly
Please Protect
By Law
Those with Mental Illness
In instances of On going Abuse
Because they are Mental
Is Intolerable and Cruel
As a Society
We must stand by
Our Fellow Psychiatric Patients
As if they were Casualties of War
Don't Simply Stand By
On High Horses
In Judgement
Psychiatry really has to put it's Brakes On
Find the strengths of the Individual
And Employ them as a Society
Before We Experiment on
Fellow Human Beings
We must offer them Hope
Not Cast them Out
As if they were
Dregs from the Tea
My Life has been One Long
Black Cloud
I have been CONDEMNED
Even by My Psychiatrists
My Wish
My Plea
My Blessing
Is PLEASE
Show Us a World where
We Shielded Our Kith and Kin
We would have Heaven on Earth

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