A Little MS with a Little MSW

My daughter recently stated that she does not believe that anyone is all good or all bad. In the same vein, I don’t believe that anyone is all sane or all insane. On a spectrum of Charles Manson to Mother Teresa, most people fall somewhere in the middle. Someone once said, regarding mankind, ‘there are the diagnosed and the undiagnosed,’ and boy do I believe that more and more every day. My family is chock full of the undiagnosed…

 What’s that? Yours, too?

  You think your family coined the term dysfunction? Well, I’ll see your dysfunctional family and raise you a family tree that quite possibly inspired the first edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illnesses. We’ve got a little bit of anxiety, a little bit of depression, a whole lot of neurodivergence, and just enough paranoid schizophrenia to tip the scales closer to Manson than I care to be.

Despite our diagnoses or lack thereof, most of us are still out there attempting to be productive, socially connected citizens and humans. While I know that good people sometimes make bad choices, and vice versa, I ultimately disagree with my daughter’s sentiment, and I suppose that’s why it hit me so hard. I am good people and I come from good people. Alas, bad people walk among us. I’ve danced with them. Quite literally, and in social circles.

There is a naivete about me that I was born with and am likely to carry until the day I die. I want to see the good in everyone. How do you think the bad ones ever got close enough to dance? My eyes are open wider now that I am older, but they are still looking at you with hope. Hope that your thoughts and actions are not laced with or drenched in manipulation and ill-intent. If you are one of the bad ones, people like my daughter will lose themselves trying to find your light.

What do I think? Well, I’m glad you asked. The souls of the good burn with the authentic light of a candle or the sun. You? You’re an LED bulb, at best, baby.