Cavalier:

showing a lack of proper concern; offhand

is an interesting word to use with someone who has been labeled as bipolar, Pam. I am hardly cavalier, and while I do my level best to be fair in my writing, I also try to deal with difficult issues with a touch of humor, for humor often allows forgiveness. Madness caused by alcoholism in my family caused plenty of suffering. With respect, I’d be just as careful not to paint someone else with such a moniker without understanding a great deal more about their lives. I appreciate your comment and the time you have taken to read the article, but I would ask that you not accuse me of either an attitude that I most certainly do not have, nor a disrespect for something very real that too many of us deal with every day. I believe powerfully that a great deal of what we so cavalierly refer to as mental illness is much more so PTSD, which is what I have after being repeatedly raped in the military. I am no more mentally ill than the guide sitting across from me here in Kenya. What I was then and still am is pretty fucking angry that the men got away with it, that there was nothing I could do about it, and that this is the case for more than a third of the world’s women, and that’s probably a terrible underestimate. That’s not mental illness. That’s righteous fucking anger. Again, with respect, Pam, there’s nothing cavalier about that at all, nor my attitude about it.