2005/06/24

man, this guy is WHACKED!

Have you heard Tom Cruise lately?

The latest instance.

...Previous notes

Serious craziness. I saw this one myself, "live" on CNN.

OK, folks, I've mentioned before in this little bit of WebSpace that I have personal experience with depression (since at least age 7), complete with thoughts of and attempts at suicide. The only thing that has kept me alive, lo these past seven years, is Zoloft. One of the "dangerous" drugs Cruise decries.

I've tried life without antidepressants (for the first 33 years of my life); I've tried life on antidepressants other than Zoloft (for a short period while I was 42); let me tell you this: Zoloft isn't for everyone. Neither are Effexor, Celexa, Lexapro, Wellbutrin, Seroquel, Abilify, Remeron, or any of a host of other chemicals.

Nevertheless, a combination of Zoloft and Remeron work for me. I am not suicidal when I take a carefully determined combination of the two. When I take neither, I am profoundly suicidal. With only one or the other, I am borderline, i.e. I have frequent suicidal thoughts but rarely act on them.

With G.W. Bush, these meds are all the more important. But then, I don't feel like getting political right now.

Scientology does nothing for me; those folks sound like they've taken even more acid than I have. (And that's a lot!!)

And now, for something completely different:

Yesterday in Chapel (which we have to sit through every night at The Haven of Rest Mission, my current residence), located in Tallahassee Florida (deep in the heart of Dixie), somebody asked for us to sing "Glory, Glory Hallelujah (the Battle Hymn of the Republic)", a blatantly pro-Yankee (i.e. pro-Union) song. Sure it's full of references to God. It's also a paean to the virtue of the old Union over the Old South.

I gladly sang along, joined by a few dozen life-long Dixie residents. Perhaps they didn't see the irony, perhaps they only focused on the religious aspects of the tune; perhaps they are Yanks at heart. Maybe they simply didn't realize that the song was written as a memorial to the victory of the Republic of the United States over the then-defunct Confederate States.

Whatever their reasons, I was glad to sing. My grandmother's sister, Aunty Vi, specified in her will that the mourners should sing that very tune before she was lowered into her final resting place. And, they did.

I hope they do the same for me, a devout Christian and a Yankee with 370 years of Northern blood.
Posted by Jay at 5:23:00 PM

3 comments:

  1. AnonymousSaturday, July 9, 2005 at 9:31:00 AM EDT

    well, at least you weren't singing the "Tom Brown's Body" version... that is REALLY Union. I think Julia Ward Howe tempered it quite a bit in her rewrite, making it more Godcentric rather than Unioncentric.
    I'd estimate a whole lotta hymnal participation is in irony... not just with war songs, but with all of the christian values. we're all rabid sinners and so many hymns are of the "we are not worthy, but save us anyhow" aspect.
    And ya do it anyways... singing is ALWAYS cathartic, especially in groups. that's the beauty of the congregation - if you're there, you are with & welcome and are participating in the group spirituality which always transcends & lifts personal spritituality.
    rock on !

    regarding meds: you are correct when you say it's different for everyone. Obviously Tom Cruise's ego allows no room for consideration of anything other than himself. personally, I've been saved by Zoloft, but now have found ways to get by without it, through exercise and cognitive strategies. But i know what it's like to be in a state where the brain gets stuck in a very dark place - and some chemical assistance can be life saving.
    although these days, in general, i think the medical community is perhaps prescribing Anti-Ds too soon as a panacea for poor living habits... and this overissuance is likely the seed of comments like Cruise's.
    I wonder if Cruise doesn't spiel comments like this just to get his name in blogs & the press - he seems to be in "no press is bad press" mode lately. what, with his money, he's probably waaaay up the Scientology ladder by now and i bet he fancies himself a missionary. L Ron would have loved his money. The 'what' of Scientology is not as bad as the 'how', imo.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMonday, July 25, 2005 at 2:46:00 PM EDT

    dad, your third link seems to be out of commision.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousWednesday, December 10, 2008 at 4:50:00 AM EST

    My name is Kim Collar and i would like to show you my personal experience with Seroquel.

    I am 40 years old. Have been on Seroquel for 9 months now. I would love to know how people sleep after having huge insomnia before seroquel as it is the most potent sleep inducer known to mankind.

    I have experienced some of these side effects-
    lack of motivation, extreme depression, headaches, hypotension, increased pulse, dizziness, weight gain, dry mouth, constipation, personality change, puffy gums, no interest in activities other than sleeping.

    I hope this information will be useful to others,
    Kim Collar

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)