I watched a commercial in which an older teenage boy painted adjacent buildings with flowers. When his sickly bedridden sister woke up, he pulled open the curtains and she saw a note, surrounded by flowers, painted on the neighbors walls. The graffiti said “be brave.” Then the words “sometimes it takes more than medications” rolled across the screen.
How touching and how true.
Most people who saw this responded with accolades of how impressive it was, how it touched the need for connections between people, that it relieved us of our overconfidence in medications to heal, and of the importance of touching. But one person commented that we should not be endorsing antisocial behaviors. The graffiti artist, he said, violated the property rights of those who owned the wall that he used as a canvas. I must say that initially I was really taken back by this. I felt the larger message was missed. But a friend told me that, technically, that the commentator was correct. And much to my initial resistance, I conceded. Of course I’d be happy to donate any amount of wall space if it made a child smile. But that’s me.
My lesson: we need those who see the trees, and we need those who see the forests. I saw the forest and not the trees. He saw the trees and not the forest. I wonder if he would see the same forest if different trees had been used. An interesting set of thoughts. A lesson to take into therapy too…
Filed under: Psychotherapy Notes, Society's Tonics | Tagged: Mental Health, psychiatric medications, psychological growth, psychotherapy
