Sad

OK I admit I'm feeling kind of sad this morning. I'm guessing I'm not alone. Maybe that's the good part of it--we have plenty of company being sad together.

As I listened to the news early this morning my sadness at the score of that final hockey game began to be compounded by the disappointing behaviour that followed. Oh my, Vancouver, you can do better. And of course they are, as the "rest" of the folks are lining up to help clean up and apologize for the mess.

It did seem, as the news continued to unfold, that there was an unusual amount of just plain sadness there. People return to burned out homes in Great Slave; incidence of syphilis soars in Alberta; labour actions and government responses in a couple of our very large public institutions continue to unfold. Oh there is much to be sad about this morning.

Even people I know and care about are struggling with broken relationships, major health challenges...I can go on and on. That's the way it is with sadness. When you feel sad, you see it everywhere. I'm glad that I am the sort of person who knows that this will pass. For the most part, I'm a happy person who can generally find things to rejoice about. Hence, the name of this very blog. We do focus on the "good word". And we don't have much trouble finding good words to celebrate.

But I want to remind myself, and you too, dear reader, that in our midst are many people who don't or can't find that silver lining. There are people who sit in the midst of sadness all the time, who don't know or can't convince themselves that "this too shall pass." They are clinically depressed. Depression is just one of the mental health disorders that trouble too many people in our community. You can't tell from just looking at them. In fact, many clinically depressed people have learned to wear a mask that keeps you from noticing their sadness.

Maybe today, since we're feeling a bit sad ourselves, this would be a good day to check out the Canadian Mental Health website for some information about how mental illness affects us, what we can do about it, and where we can learn more.

If we are called to end suffering ( and we are!) here is a place to begin. What better way to turn our own sadness into something better.

Have a good day everyone!

Posted by Marion