Ramble
Since when do daisies grow on trees? These aren't actually daisies, of course - but what are they? I took the photograph for its composition, not really looking at its elements. The wall, with its brick, its terracotta medallion, and its almost voluptuous rusticated stone, is typical of what's left of Henderson Place.
I've been mulling over an entry at Joe.My.God about blogging as therapy. Although I've been following Joe Jervis's site for only a short while, I'm not surprised to learn that Joe has never consulted a psychotherapist. He seems to be a very centered gentleman, and perhaps there's a biologically-based inverse proportion between neurosis and a taste for Budweiser beer. But Mr Jervis has also been lucky. It may well be that lots of New Yorkers go to therapists for handholding, but there are also many who go because of disorder in their lives. Some are unwell - clinically depressed (or trying not to be). Some are enduring the aftermath of catastrophe - the sudden loss of health, wealth, or loved ones. Some are damaged - crippled by bad parents. Because of simplistic ideas about "character," people who aren't in any of these groups are tempted to imagine that, if they were, they could tough it out on their own. Perhaps they could. But I don't think that they'd find blogging very helpful.
Americans like to think that good health is the result of virtue. The New York Times's weekly Science section is so drunk on the idea that a proper diet and regular exercise will keep you out of the hospital that it has become about as creditable as Pravda. Good habits will almost certainly keep healthy people healthier longer. But they will not prevent cancer or arthritis. They won't help the victims of hit-and-run drivers. And they will be powerless to protect anyone who has inherited a predisposition to depression. Healthy people ought to consider themselves very, very lucky - and leave it at that.
It's undoubtedly for the best that we find it difficult to imagine someone else's illness. For the matter of that, try to remember one of your own: it's not easy. But we have arrived at a level of civilization that honors the illnesses of others. We do not expect sick people to jump out of bed to check their Filofaxes. It's time for us to strive for the next peak in our social advance, and to extend this honor to the victims of mental illness. A little understanding is all that's required to distinguish malingerers and whiners from the truly ill, so there's no need to fear being taken in.
The atmosphere in Carl Schurz Park yesterday, when I came across some irises, was strongly reminiscent of Blow-Up. Momentary gusts tugged the foliage, and the foliage protested with roiling susurration. It was not warm. In the playground, the little kids were shrieking with glee while doing the only thing (I swear) that I miss about childhood: swinging.
Comments
How does that Stevenson poem go again? "Oh I do think it's the loveliest thing ever a child can do/ Up in the air I go flying again/ Up in the air and down."
I don't have my children's garden of verse on hand... Actually, that is something I really want to find next time I go home.
Swinging really is one of the loveliest aspects of childhood. That and merry-go-rounds.
Sorry to not mention mental illness. I got distracted by the idea of playgrounds.
Posted by: Ms. NOLA | May 20, 2005 02:29 PM
I have my doubts as to whether blogging can help the truly mentally ill; unfortunately it does give malingerers and whiners the opportunity to revel in self-absorption and navel-gazing.
Be that as it may, I found your delightful post and pictures to be very therapeutic.
Posted by: patricia | May 20, 2005 02:39 PM
How do you like to go up in a swing
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside -
Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown-
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
Posted by: R J Keefe![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.portifex.com/DailyBlague/nav-commenters.gif)
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May 20, 2005 02:40 PM
Oh, yes! Thank you for posting the poem!
Posted by: Ms. NOLA | May 20, 2005 04:08 PM
Well, I use to say (after Woody Allen, I think): there are two kind of people: those who have a shrink and those who need one :o) (I am in the second category).
I can't blog when I'm feeling blue or tired... That is often!
Posted by: JR | May 20, 2005 05:34 PM
I heartily endorse RJ's comments about mental illness. People experience clinical depression because they do not produce sufficient amounts of seratonin (and other normal brain chemicals), due to physical illness, death of a loved one or for other reasons. In this very important way, they are just like other people with chemical deficiencies, such as diabetics who produce insufficient amounts of insulin and persons who are hypothyroid.
Today, no one would dream of suggesing that diabetics should "tough out" a chronic blood sugar problem or that persons suffering from an underactive thyroid should be able to talk themselves into having normal energy levels. Corrective medicine is provided to these patients and no one expects them "to just deal with it" on their own. Yet many people continue to believe that depression is voluntary and therefore can be overcome by sheer force of will. Maybe they do so because accepting the reality that underlying physical causes fuel depression is too frightening: it means that it could happen to anyone given the right circumstances. Just as physical illness used to be feared as divine retribution meted out for misbehaviour, mental illness is regarded as a result of moral failing or "bad character." This erroneous belief also may result from an over-use of the word "depressed" and its variations. Many people confuse depression with feelings of disappointment ("I was so depressed that I didn't get the car I wanted"), petulance ("I was so depressed that I didn't become class president") and annoyance ("I was so depressed that I had to wait on line for an hour to see the movie")- all of which can be overcome, or at least controlled, by force of will.
Posted by: Ozma | May 20, 2005 05:55 PM
RJ - Those irises are GORGEOUS!!!! especially after this incredibly grey depressing day...
Posted by: Anonymous | May 20, 2005 09:28 PM