Our Life Experiences

After reading, The dollar barrier to mental health
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/
1206498
by Michael Kimber, a mentally ill person, whose life experience
has compelled him to speak about the stigma of mental illness;
I, also, feel compelled to address the topic of our life experiences
in more general terms.

The lack of understanding of any given topic will always be present.
Everyone has their own personal life experiences
that don't always transcend beyond their own
feelings.
This is what makes our world so diverse and mostly combative;
not supportive. Why we have so many wars. Why there is unfairness.
No matter how much sympathy we show others; we will never
reach that level of understanding unless we feel their pain.

When I was young and married, before I had children, I read a
story about a young couple who went on a road trip with their baby.
It was snowing and they got stuck in the snow on a deserted road.
To keep warm they decided to wrap themselves in all their clothing.
For some reason, they laid on the ground and the
mother put the baby on top of her body to protect it.
As it got colder, the mother took clothing off of her own body
and wrapped the baby in it. As a result, when they were found,
the mother had frozen to death, but her baby and husband were alive.
 I remember quite clearly telling a mother of 5 children of how
distressing this story was to me. I asked her why the mother
chose to die; protecting her baby at all cost; when I thought
that the baby was expendable.
She could always have another one, but now the child
is motherless and the father has no mate.
A dysfunctional family.
Looking back, with much amusement, at my lack of life
experiences, I couldn't empathize with
this mother, at that time, in my life.
I am sure the mother who listened to my explanation
was horrified by my attitude.
She said that once I am a mother, I will understand.

Generally speaking, it does not surprise me that
even now, I tend to think negatively about
universal empathy among human beings.
We cannot know every experience that every person
has on earth which leads to religious, cultural
and national wars. We will never be enlightened as a
global community.
We are mostly peaceful because of nondiscriminatory
government and religious laws that are created
to force us to be civil to each other.

Presently, there are no global laws enforced to protect
the Syrian people from their own lawless
government; no matter how much sympathy the entire
world feels. There were no laws protecting
the Jews in Germany; until there was WWII to force
laws to protect them.

It will take nondiscriminatory  
governmental policies and
fair law enforcement to make groups
and nations more caring about each other.
This is also why Michael Kimber realizes it's important,
as the victim, to reach out to other mentally ill
victims. Having them collectively speak out to
create an empathy force; much like the
Civil Right's movement that created
laws to protect them from being mistreated by
society; and, in particular, the government.

Following this line of thought "life Experiences":
My next blog: Choosing a Leader