An excerpt from a letter sent to my personal email address:
"Rebecca, you wrote on your blog (which seems to be abandoned):"5150 is California Welfare and Institutions Code for the lights are on but nobody is home."How can you call yourself a professional, let alone a Christian, with a snide remark like that? Major depression is a medical illness that affects 15 million Americans adults per year. "
Allow me to answer: I feel I have earned the right to describe "5150" any way I want, being is that, I AM one of the 15 million Americans who has been diagnosed with Major Depression. I fight and win that battle on a daily basis. I choose to laugh rather than cry as my own form of therapy. Do I truly care about the mentally ill? I have personally wiped the bubbling foam from a mentally ill person's trachea tube Sunday after Sunday at church services held specifically for the severely physically and mentally disabled. My father is a (LCSW) psychologist, and I grew up on the grounds of a state institution for the mentally ill that he was in charge of, so I feel I have more experience then many, and certainly a more unique viewpoint than most. Should I go on? I lost my entire memory to a medical illness and was nearly, mistakenly, 5150'd myself, years ago. More? How can I call myself Christian? Being, a Christian means I have been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ who died for my sins and yours. Period. It does not mean I am perfect. As a Christian I would never, purposely cause another person, mental anguish. I feel quite certain, my blog has not truly caused you mental anguish; it is about innocuous as they come. In the interest of fairness, Daniel, I have posted your entire email. It is your side of the story in total and I respect it, but you are barking up the wrong tree, coming after me as not understanding the true nature of mental illness. How can I, tritely say what I say in my blog? Because I stand before you personally WITH MY OWN LIGHTS ON AND NOBODY HOME. Thank you for the email and the material.
"Rebecca, you wrote on your blog (which seems to be abandoned):"5150 is California Welfare and Institutions Code for the lights are on but nobody is home."How can you call yourself a professional, let alone a Christian, with a snide remark like that? Major depression is a medical illness that affects 15 million Americans adults per year. Over 10 million Americans have bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia, another medical illness, affects 2 million American adults. Two to 5% of American adults have panic disorder. The aggregate numbers are alarming.Are all of these Americans "crazy?" "Loons?"Only to the untrained and ignorant.Many, many times I have witnessed California's 5150 (72-hour hold) being abused by peace officers; officers who show little to no compassion for people with bona fide medical illnesses. People are routinely humiliated, demoralized, and traumatized by being handcuffed and treated like a prisoner -- all of which stems from simple, but widespread, ignorance.So the tone, title, and subtitle of your blog does not come as a surprise to me. God forbid that you or a loved one ever have to experience any of the illnesses, whether listed above or not, at some point in their life.And spare me the public safety lecture. I've worked in EMS for years.Hoping you see the light,Daniel"
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13 comments:
I hope you emailed him, or that he reads this. This kind of thing happens every day ... we leap before we look, so to speak, and judge a whole person by a small part (a blog, one conversation, a rumor). This situation reminds me to be more careful of that myself.
Thanks for sharing!
You could have saved yourself some time with a simpler response. Whoever wrote that email needs to get a life and step off.
Nice response there...
Thanks for having my back Jason, but I'd like to add that Daniel wrote me back apologizing for his "knee jerk" reaction. I think it takes a very big person to do that. I also feel his point, though misdirected, was a valid one. Thanks guys for even paying attention.
Very nicely said!! You certainly have a way with words.
Wow, way to go. Are we so PC that an little comment like "The lights are on..." sends someone over the edge like that? My guess is it hit a little to close to home.
Other than that I have truly enjoyed reading your blog, you have a way to really paint a picture with your words.
I am not a member of the law enforcement community (but I do try to watch at least four episodes of COPS each day on Court TV), BUT I used to work for a large corporation managing one of their locations, and our store number was 5150. Everyone familiar with the code thought it was quite humourous, but very few knew how telling it really was.
That was a good response rebecca. As a former dispatcher, also diagnosed with depression, laugher is the best medicine.
We used to use Code 30, which is what the officers in that jurisdiction called when they wanted their lunch. Therefore, a person who was Code 30 was "Out to lunch".
As in...
Radio, I made contact with the complainant and thanked him for bringing this matter to our attention. He appears to be Code 30. I'll be clear."
Depression and Dispatch. Ain't we a pair?
Guess you can tell where I stand on the whole 5150 thing, huh? :-)
Where've you been? I miss reading your posts.
How long does a 5150 stay on one's record before they can qualify for a license to own a handgun - for hobby target practice only.
The original 5150 was a complete misunderstanding and abuse of local "yahoo" policemen. But once some guys decide they want to break down a house's front door; some cops feel free to justify their actions by throwing a blaming charge at the homeowner(5150); ignoring their own impatientient-macho-mental-breakdown. Sad but probably too often, true.
So again; how long does a 5150 stay on one's record before they can qualify for a license to own a handgun - for hobby target practice only.
You gotta laugh and enjoy the "crazy" stuff, we may not be politically correct all the time, but from one dispatcher to another people should "sit in our chair" and then... Anyway glad I found your blog I have been a dispatcher going on 20 years and I care a lot but I also believe some people need to "get a life"
IMO the world is full of oversensitive PC crybabies. You can find something to be offended about in ANY situation if you look long and hard enough.
People need to chill.
Great blog, and great post.
i struggle with my own Blog from time to time. My own Mom told me that my posts often have an "air of superiority" in them.
It's just that I deal with the public in a library day after day and some of them can really drive me crazy. I use my Blog to vent, so I don't "lose it" with any one.
As a Christian and also a Pastor, I do feel that I'm too mean sometimes. Hey, I struggle.
Thanks for the entertainment, and keep it coming!
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