"Depression ..

I don't think they understand depression. I don't think they know what it means.

It's the sun shining brightly.

It's a garden filled with flowers.

It's being loved.

It's being alive.

It's fed and clothed and warm and cool and safe,

not sick, not broke, not widowed.

Depression is a grief that grows in this beautiful place.

It has no reason (that I know of).

It just is.

Don't tell me to t hink it away,

to look at the bright side,

to compare myself with the less fortunate.

I'm not a fool.

I'm not an idiot.

I'm not a shallow, self-centred pig.

Though I can be all these things

at one time or another.

What I am is depressed.

DEPRESSED.

It's a word you use too lightly.

"I'm so depressed, my new shoes got wet."

You're disappointed.

"So depressing, none of the chapters I studied came in the exam."

So frustrating. Or so unfair.

"I'm depressed"

sometimes means

I'm bored.

I'm tired.

I'm lonely.

I'm fed up.

I'm sad.

I'm mourning.

It's a word you use too lightly.

It's the heaviest word I know.

15 8 2003