I have been planning on writing this blog post since December of 2009. I will explain what prompted me almost two and a half years ago to think of writing this post in a moment, but first, let me explain why I haven’t written it until now.

You see, I’m sick. I’m so sick that I haven’t been able to work for over thirteen years. During this time, I’ve gone through periods where I’ve been able to write a great deal, and times where I can’t even keep on top of my e-mail. The last two years have been somewhere in the middle, so I haven’t really written too much, and it has not been until now that I’ve been able to write this.

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I’m a day late for this one, but it’s better late than never. Yesterday, March 21, 2012, was World Down Syndrome Day.

This is a special issue for me. Persons with Down Syndrome are an important source of inspiration for me. All my life I’ve too easily gotten caught up in measuring my worth by what I’ve accomplished and what others think of me. I’ve improved a great deal in this area over the last few years, and that improvement has been in a large part due to persons with Down Syndrome. These persons know their worth and they don’t feel the need to prove that worth to anyone. They inspire me to be the best person I can be, not because they are less than me, but because they are more than me. I am become more when I follow their example.

We are all of infinite worth to God.

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I’m a Canadian and most of my readers are Canadian; however, I do have some readers around the world, most notably in the United States of America. For these readers I’m going to give my opinion about who I think should be your next president. Not that my opinion means too much, but people often ask me my opinion on different things, such as what Bible translation to read.

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There are two terms I often hear being misused: bipolar and schizophrenic. I find the misuse of these terms somewhat distressing and disturbing, particularly when the person misusing these terms is someone I have great admiration for, such as the pope. For those of you that don’t know, the reason I’m sensitive to this issue is because I have been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder (basically a combination of schizophrenia and either bipolar disorder or major depression; I have a depressive subtype.)

People misuse these terms because they have misconceptions of what these terms really mean, and apply these misconceived ideas to other areas, such as politics. This only reinforces the misconceptions, especially when it is in mass media that is supposed to be reporting factual information.

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I’ve been following the George Tiller story, and there’s one thing I just don’t understand: Why are so many pro-abortion advocates drawing a connection between this killing and the pro-life movement? Anyone with any acquaintance with the pro-life movement will know the aim of this movement is the protection of life from conception to natural death. This means that the pro-life movement entails a lot more than just an anti-abortion agenda. The agenda also includes being anti-euthanasia, anti-human cloning, anti-human embryonic stem cells research and anti-death penalty (It should also include being anti-contraception, but I’m not going to debate that right now).

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Last week I read and commented on Sr. Helena Burns’ review of the movie Angels & Demons. This is what I wrote:

Good review except for this one sentence: “The screenplay (which is kinder to the Catholic Church than the book) zigzags schizophrenically between insulting the Church and patting her on the head.” Schizophrenia is not the disorder you wanted to refer to. What you wanted to refer to was dissociative identity disorder, also known as multiple personality disorder. The pope made a similar mistake almost a year ago. You can read about it here:
http://grigaitis.net/blog/2008/09/humble-correction-of-the-pope/

Sr. Helena respectfully made this reply describing how she corrected her review:

Thanks! I fixed it to “rapidly.”

Today I saw the movie at a matinée and have decided that schizophrenic, though Sr. Helena used it in the wrong context, describes this movie perfectly.

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The recent story about the death of John Travolta’s son prompted me to take a very small look at Scientology; specifically, an interview with Tom Cruise that took place around the time the movie War of the Worlds came out. The media seems to dismiss most of what Tom Cruise said as absurdity; however, there is some truth to what he said, particularly concerning pharmaceuticals and mental illness.

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June 29, 2008

Pope Benedict XVI
The Apostolic Palace,
00120 Vatican City, Europe

Your Holiness,

It is very fitting that I write this letter to you today on the great Solemnity of St. Peter and  St. Paul. It is fitting because, although I can in no way compare myself to St. Paul, I am willing to correct Peter when he is wrong. I would never question you on an issue of faith and morals, but you have erred on an issue of psychiatry, of which I have a little knowledge because I have been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder.

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This is an important article by Dr. Stephen J. Genuis. I recommend all mental health practitioners and clients read it.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18621076