[at-l] Please keep Heather in your thoughts and prayers

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

----- Original Message -----
From: <Slyatpct@aol.com>
To: <WSM311@aol.com>; <at-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2003 8:41 AM
Subject: Re: [at-l] Please keep Heather in your thoughts and prayers


> In a message dated 5/31/2003 5:57:31 AM Eastern Standard Time, WSM311
writes:
>
> > Heather will be OK in
> > a few days, but has lost a great deal of innocence. No one expects
someone
> > they love to snap and resort to violence. Apparently the
> > guy has a mental
> > illness. They are evaluating him in jail.
>
> Sorry to hear about Heather.  If she ever takes him back, she's a fool.
>
> Ragamuffin needs a good ass kickin'.  No amount of patience and love  is
going to cure that dude, although perhaps some Prozac will help.
>
> Hopefully his hiking days are over, 'cuz we don't need no idgits like that
on the trail.

Having dealt with severe mental illness in close quarters I would like to
make a point here. You have to separate the illness from the person when
making judgments. Having a mental illness does not make someone a bad person
or an "idgit". Kicking their ass resolves nothing. If anything it may
reinforce the distorted sense of reality that is the result of the illness.
If he was on medication, it's quite possible that he got off the schedule
due to the thru-hike and it resulted in a psychotic episode. What he needs
competent evaluation by a psychiatrist. There's only one of those (that I
know about) on AT-L and (no disrespect intended, Sly) you aren't him.

Whether Heather decides to continue a relationship with Ragamuffin is
entirely up to her and, similarly, is not a subject for our judgment. Life
with a mentally ill person can be a challenge that some people are not up to
or willing to deal with but making the decision to continue that
relationship does not make them a fool any more than the decision of a
person who decides to continue a relationship with someone who becomes
paralyzed.

This is a sad and scary situation but we don't know enough to make judgments
about either of the people involved.

Saunterer