12th March, 2019

I made a journey on the underground a couple of days ago and my heart sank when a man with mental health issues boarded the crowded train. He did not even look for a seat; he was here to orate and this he did for the next 15 minutes, continuously, without taking a breath. He immediately got everyone’s attention with a rant about the evils of white supremacy.  The almost imperceptible stiffening, sitting up, pulling back of feet and legs and an even greater blanking of expression communicated the increased tension in the carriage. He went on to cover most of today’s major political and social issues of our times: Race, politics, the church, wealth, crime and other things and mixed into his crazy stream of consciousness were other more metaphysical themes of love, hate, evil and good. His delivery was so powerful, so loud and so passionate he had his captive audience in an absolute thrall. Most people sat or stood eyes cast down, some apparently engrossed in books, listening to their headphones or their own thoughts. None, I notice, attempted conversation with companions and certainly no one responded to the lecturer.  It seemed to go on forever and though he repeated himself and jumped from one topic to another there was a thread of something that made sense as he made his final statement: “I love you people” and there was a collective breathing out and lots of smiles as we continued on our journey.

The incident made me reminisce about my sixteen-year old self who worked as a cadet psychiatric nurse (now referred to It does http://deeprootsmag.org/2015/03/03/enduring-values/ buy generic cialis not show any warning symptoms, that is why it is known as silent killer. It is indicated pharmacy viagra in conditions like spermatorrhea, premature ejaculation, neuralgia, incontinence, chronic diarrhea etc. There may be chance that the accident that occurs is not generic cialis browse for source now your fault. This problem can be solved out with the help of a speon line viagra click here nowt. as mental health nurse) in one of the huge asylums (now usually referred to as mental health institutions). It was called Knowle and like most institutions of its kind its austere Victorian buildings were located in deep countryside, hard to travel to and tucked well away from public consciousness. I am not aware of any particular scandals attached to this institution but many others like it were found guilty of impersonal, inadequate and even abusive treatment of their patients.   It was a strange choice of first job but looking back, I realise I had always been fascinated by the occasional crazy (mentally ill) person ranting in the street whilst at the same time being deeply scared. Over fifty years later I still feel like this and I know I am not alone.  These days with the de-institutionalisation of mentally ill people arising from the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 it is commonplace to encounter individuals on the streets who behave in unusual and/or disturbing ways.  A lot of people feel scared that with the more immediate and greater presence of the mentally ill they may become the victims of violence but ironically it is those with mental health issues who are much more at risk as according to some research they are three times as likely to be victims of crime than the general public. It is also a sad fact that a large proportion of the homeless are people with mental health issues who have no assigned caseworker or active involvement with public services, i.e. Health and Social Services, thus, the problems which so often give rise to ill health, violence and criminality remaining unaddressed. 

Returning to the man on the train, I can only guess about his situation and about the events that have happened to him but it does strike me as a kind of miracle that he was able to make everyone on a crowded rush hour train smile with his “I love you people”.