The other day I was on a role of profound thinking and had several epiphanies.... LOL, since I failed to write them down I only remember one now. Perhaps it was one of the more important ones. I wish I could remember how I worded it before as in made more sense but here it goes: A few years back I had the opportunity to observe a group of very depressed people, all suicidal, after they entered the hospital. They were in an art activity as a form of group therapy. At tha ... t moment in time everyone looked quite "normal" and several even looked happy. You would never have known that some had gone as far as attempting suicide a day or so earlier. (I need to state here that a lot of the people I know who struggle with depression are gifted in the arts in one way or another.) It made me think of the times I heard someone say to me or someone I knew in high school "you can sing for fun or do art for fun but you need to study something else and get a real job to support yourself". Suddenly I thought about how people sometimes force others to be something they aren't in a society that has particular ideas of what is right or worth while. My epiphany here is that perhaps many of the people I have met who suffer from severe depression have had to deny who they are/ what they really love. This could apply to anything from preferring to be an artist to gender identity. When a person has to give up who they are, don't you think they would feel a little lost in life and feel despair over having to face that daily. Maybe if we want to have a more productive and happy world we need to quit telling people what they should become and who to be. To be supportive instead of critical of peoples hopes and dreams. I know these thoughts are not really new but for me it was suddenly very clear how a little innocent negativity can cause mode damage that one could ever believe possible. Mother of Bride Dresses 2020