The bombings in Boston have prompted me to select this blog, initially posted on August 20, 2012, for my ‘From My Files Friday’ post.  Take a moment to watch the video and to read Matt’s story.

My sister-in-law, Dana Davis, was deaf but she never let her lack of hearing slow her down. When she was a teenager, the local swimming pool said she couldn’t be a lifeguard. My wife, Patti, who was two years older than her sister, and Dana demanded an audience with the pool’s board of directors and convinced its members to give Dana a shot.

She got the job and did great at it.

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Joanne Kelly was in church one Sunday when her minister announced during his sermon: “If you are diligent enough in your spiritual practice, you don’t need psychotropic medications.”

Kelly, who has an adult son with a mental illness, was happy that her son had skipped church that day. She confronted the minister after the service.

“What you said was extremely irresponsible,” she scolded.

Getting within an inch of her face and clearly angry, he replied, “When I give a sermon, I am channeling God.”

Joanne never returned to that church. She found a new one. She also got involved in the National Alliance on Mental Illness, serving as the president of both her local Boulder chapter and the state NAMI group. Then she went a step further. Joanne  joined the Rev. Alan Johnson in forming the Interfaith Network on Mental illness. One of its goals is to educate the clergy about mental illnesses.

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Painting by Max Maddox
(copyrighted)

One of the best ways to fight stigma is by telling our stories and earlier this week, I mentioned that Colorado Springs novelist and award winning NAMI advocate, Kathy Brandt, and her son, Max Maddox, had written an especially well-crafted and poignant memoir entitled Walks On The Margins. She gives the parental viewpoint and Max writes as an individual dealing with the symptoms of bipolar disorder.

On Monday, I published two excerpts from their book written by Kathy about her relationship with NAMI [National Alliance on Mental Illness.] Now I am posting two excerpts from the book written by Max.

The first describes his thoughts when he was first hospitalized.

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Yesterday afternoon The Washington Post published an Op Ed that I’d written that explained why I believe it is wrong to execute persons with mental illnesses even when they commit mass murders, as in the case of the Aurora movie theater shooter.  Those of you who are regulars readers of this blog already knew that was my position. By this morning, there were 200 comments and most of the commentators didn’t agree with me. Some of the ugliest statements were posted by writers who hid behind pseudonyms which always makes people feel safer than if they knew their neighbors might be reading their rants.

While my OP ED is only available on line, today’s print edition of the newspaper published a column by Richard Cohen about the death penalty and accused gunman James E. Holmes. He reaches the same conclusion that I did but for different reasons.

I’ve put my OP Ed below and here is a link to Cohen’s piece.

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Readers continue to comment about my recent blog: The Changing Face of NAMI . In addition to the 140 plus comments that have been posted, I’ve received emails from NAMI friends and leaders who were dismayed by the angry tone of some writers. This reaction by Kathy Brandt, a NAMI activist in Colorado Springs, is representative:

I’m disturbed by the some of the animosity within NAMI  that’s reflected in the comments on your website.  We ought to be colleagues who accept one another’s opinions (agree to disagree)  rather than being adversaries.   Surely, as people who have been in the trenches of discrimination and stigma, we are the best at accepting and celebrating difference.  

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