40-40-40 ... Day 4: Brain & Behavior Research Foundation

One of the blessings of living in San Felipe for the past 15 months has been the incredible friends we've made. Friends we can celebrate and lament with, go 4-wheeling with, out to dinner with, relax at their house with, call upon when we are in need of bagels or toilet paper or baby wipes.

One of those couples are Don and Katie. While at their house one afternoon, Randy and Don were outside working on cars while Katie and I were talking and organizing things inside. When our conversation settled on family, Katie shared with me:

Our grandson was recently diagnosed with schizophrenia. The only thing I know about schizophrenia is that when people go off their meds they end up killing people in schools and movie theaters. I don't want to think that about my grandson.

It was perhaps the most honest thing anyone has ever said to me.

Especially in light of the school shooting* in Parkland, Florida, this week, in which 17 were killed by a young man with a history of mental instability. 

Katie is now determined to learn more about mental illness and how she can help her grandson. And not just how she can help him avoid becoming violent, but how she can help him live a full life. His questions aren't focused on "what if I do something bad," but "will I ever have a girlfriend", a family, a job, a place of my own.

My Facebook feed has been filled this week with people who want to do something, anything, to prevent further violence and raise even more awareness about mental health issues, bullying, gun availability, etc. I'm encouraged. If each one does something, anything, it is a step in the right direction.

But let's not judge each others' something. Your something might be to write a letter to a government official. Someone else's something might be to volunteer in our schools. Yet another's might be to advocate stricter gun policies, or to practice or teach your children proper gun safety in the home. Others are making a point to reach out to those who are lonely or outcast.

Because of my relationship with Katie, my something is to donate to an organization that offers grants to those who want to better understand and better treat mental health disorders. And to remember that people are more than their diagnosis. They are the children and grandchildren and parents and siblings and spouses of the people I love and who love them.

ACTIONS STEPS:

DO something. Anything. TODAY. To make this world a better, safer place.
WATCH this special video about a teenage boy who reached out to someone who felt overlooked.
LEARN more about mental health disorders, their signs and symptoms, and how you can help.
READ how one grandmother prevented a potential school shooting, by seeing something and saying something.
DONATE to Brain & Behavior Research, or find another organization on Charity Navigator that is working towards a brighter tomorrow.


*There is some discrepancy as to "how many" school shootings there have been in 2018. But whether it is 1 or 18, it is still too many.