Art Imitating Life

I know that Oscar Wilde said the exact opposite, but I am not fully convinced of the great Wilde's belief. Last night my wife and I finally had the opportunity to sit down and watch "The Soloist" with Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx. Since we have two children we do not always get to see current films in the theater, but that is a different discussion and a different post! This film is about so much more than the development of a relationship between two strangers, or even the journey of self discovery for a popular and edgy L.A. Times columnist. It is about uncovering the dark reality of mental illness and its affects on America's social outcasts through the life of an extremely gifted African American chelist. Since I am aware that some who made read this have not seen the film I will refrain from giving a detailed review of the movie. The motivation for this posting is the reality that is facing our country on and off the streets of all towns and cities in our country and world. The study and treatment of mental illness has come leaps and bounds from where it used to be, but this does not mean we have come far enough. Celebrities have brought the spotlight to things like breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, ALS, spinal chord injuries, and even AIDS. However, mental illness is still something that is largely ignored and chastised in our culture. You do not become famous when you have a mental illness. You do not rarely become the most successful or greatest in your field when you are gripped by bipolar disorder or pschysofrenia.

Too often people believe that the only reason people are homeless or unemployed is because they are lazy and just do not work hard enough. A dear friend of mine exposed this myth to me while working on a research project in college. He traced the root cause of homelessness and unemployment in individuals and discovered that mental illness often has a large impact on people's living and employment situations. This same friend has gone on to obtain his masters in counseling and is helping people who are often in this exact situation. His clients often have a hard time doing the most basic things in the day. Obviously, he cannot tell me the details of his clients situations, but I know that some of them deal with more in a day than I will deal with in a lifetime. The human mind is an incredible thing. A minor chemical imbalance can change everything about how an individual sees the world. People who joke about the voices in their head have absolutely no idea the agony that this brings to countless people in this world. Steve Lopez's book, and subsequent movie, flipped the spotlight on this issue in L.A. and will not allow people to bury their heads in the sand on this topic. The people who lay their heads on the park benches and concrete of our cities are sons and daughters just like you. They often have not chosen their position in life and cannot do anything about the chemical makeup of their brain. Sure certain medications and therapy can help these people live moderately normal lives, but this does not put a roof over their heads, nor does it allow them to build life enriching relationships. These people need advocates. They need listeners. They need US!

Recently I have been frustrated about my job and rejection from the doctoral programs that I applied to last fall. I have been feeling sorry for the fact that I have to wait a whole other year to attempt to get into a program that I might not even get into. I have been wondering why I am working a job that seemingly is making no difference in the world. Shame on me! There are people struggling every day to simply make it through the day. I need to stop thinking that the problems that I am facing are the biggest problems in the world and require me to stress about. I need to start making a real difference in the world. I need to start looking out for those who need someone to simply listen to them and be their friend. Steve Lopez was not guided by any sort of religious conviction; he simply was drawn in by the story of another human being. We as the Church are called by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to serve as the hands and feet of God. We do not need a passport to care for others. Mental illness is not something that is going to go away. People need us to not find them the next best medication, but to simply find them. To be listen to them. To simply be with them. Life may imitate art, but I think when art imitates life we are able to understand the real life changing stories in our world that are happening right under our noses.