The Trivial Pursuit of Happiness

Some of you may know that my brother Josh was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was 19. Part of the reason others did not know, is because he was embarrassed to share his illness with many people, possibly because he still hoped to have a "normal" life. Unfortunately, the stigma society associates with mental illness can be more cumbersome than the illness itself. There is a wonderful new non-profit organization that aims to break down the stigma currently associated with mental illness. Bring Change 2 Mind was created by individuals and organizations that have a very personal interest in recovery from mental illness. This journey would be much easier if people with mental illness did not have to worry about being judged on the basis of the illness they hope to recover from. Everyone is affected by mental illness, either because they are struggling with illness, or know someone who is. Please check out the website for more information about this organization, join the Face...

My 9-year old son came home yesterday and was clearly upset about something that had happenned at school. Upon further questioning, he told me he got in trouble at school for writing on a slide on the playground. Realizing that there had to be some motive for him to do this, I asked him why he did it and got a typical response, "I don't know." There was more to the story, I didn't let him leave my sight until I got the full story. I asked him if he has friends at school, remembering from a few weeks ago how he had told me some kids tease him. He started crying and told me he doesn't have friends at school. Well, he mentioned this one friend who lies all the time and I told him the little boy probably thinks that is the way to impress people and befriend them. I asked my son if he thought writing on the slide would get him friends, and then pointed out to him that it will only get the kids that would do the same thing to like him. I asked my son if there are other ...

I feel very fortunate that if my parents did have negative opinions about people based on stereotypes, they never spoke about them in front of me. I realize this is a free country and freedom of speech is protected, but I wonder if the same people who post negative comments about others on the Internet would be so bold to do it in front of real people without the Internet protecting their anonymity. I also realize some of these opinions may be based on negative experiences, but experiences cannot be generalized to human-kind, the probability of the truth in this fallacy is near 1 in 6 billion. I usually don't spend energy responding to any specific posts online because ignorance is usually fueled by hate and being afraid to place yourself in someone else's position (e.g. empathy). I am also not originally from Indiana, and I don't want to end up stereotyping based on the comments of those that are so angry they spend more time than usual voicing their negative opinions o...