Aug 24 08
Hope everyone made it a great weekend!
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I want to thank everyone at the Delaware Youth Soccer Association (DYSA) for inviting me to speak at their Annual General Meeting last week. DYSA has expressed an interest in partnering with the B+ Foundation and we are very appreciative and excited to work with the various soccer clubs in Delaware to increase awareness and funds for our Foundation. I can’t wait to hear from the clubs. Sometimes, I’m able to get through my talks without breaking down too much, but I got kind of emotional at this one. I think it’s because I was with soccer folks and, as I told them, some of our greatest family memories of both Andrew and Ali center around soccer. Thank you again, DYSA and all the soccer clubs of Delaware, for your support. The soccer community around the country has been so overwhelming good to us.
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I’ve been meaning to share something with you for quite some time. A few months back, our friends Amy & Steven invited us to a forum on mental health that was organized by a group in PA called Minding Your Mind. http://www.mindingyourmind.org/ It was quite fascinating. The speakers were Kitty Dukakis, Joe Pantaliano (The Sopranos), journalist Pete Early, and the Moderator was an incredible young man named Ross Szabo. (Ross was recently voted the #1 speaker on college campuses.) They all talked about the mental health challenges that they or their family members faced. I strongly encourage you to check out Ross Szabo’s website www.nostigma.org. He wrote a really great book called “Behind Happy Faces”. Ross talks very openly about his diagnosis of bipolar disorder. His book raises so many interesting points about mental health. For example, mental health, like physical health, should be viewed on a continuum. At different points in time, you move one way or the other on the continuum. Mental health should not be viewed in black and white…ie. “He’s crazy” or “He’s ‘normal’”. That’s ridiculous. Another interesting item is the question of why do mental health conditions in our society define people. For example, you might say “John IS bipolar”, but you would never say “Jane IS breast cancer”. “Bob IS manic depressive” but Fred “ISN’T lung cancer”. People feel comfortable talking about their physical health, but mental health is a different story. I can’t do justice to Ross’ book or the Minding Your Mind organization in this Journal Update, but I encourage you to check out the URLs. Maybe someday, we will be enlightened and compassionate enough to realize the words of Ross’ URL — www.nostigma.org. Thanks, Amy & Steven, for inviting us to the Forum and introducing us to Ross.
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In closing, how about little old Delaware!!! Are we on the map or what now? :) I’m not going to get political here, but I never thought I’d see the day when a Delawarean was on the Presidential/VP ticket. Maybe people around the country will stop asking “Is that (Delaware) in Pennsylvania?” :) (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that.)
My friends, MAKE it a great week and please say a prayer for all the kids and their families who are ‘living’ in the hospitals as they valiantly fight cancer.
Live Like Andrew - SMILE! :)
B+
Proud to be,
Ali’s & Andrew’s Dad