Depression Pays Society
Depression is a reality for most people at some point in their lives. Who has never had a reason to feel sad? Our society sympathizes with people who get depressed. But it also has very little tolerance for them. Instead, society capitalizes on their misfortune, making many people rich in the process.
The medical industry has made millions from people diagnosed with depression. There are so many specialists in psychiatry. Counselors are a dime a dozen. Pharmaceutical companies are always finding ways to help us with new happy pills. While I’m on the subject, I may as well admit that authors and publishers receive their share of profit too.
It seems hard for me to swallow pills or anything else when I need to be sad. There are times when sadness is just a part of life. In fact, there are times when not being sad, would be completely inappropriate.
Why can’t we just be quiet and let people feel? When did it become normal to take happy pills for being human? Why do we believe that creating a delusional society of happy people is a good thing? How did we become so distant, when all we really need to do is care?
People need to feel their emotions. We need to get angry, grieve, and maybe even miss a meal or two because we are sad. Our souls depend on the time we take to realize who we are, and why we ended up dealing with certain situations. Sometimes, we even need to cry.
We should be helping our neighbor when she is sad or depressed. We should have compassion for the guy who loses his job, and doesn’t know how to support his family anymore.
No one needs to take happy pills just because they get sad once in a while. Sadness is a real emotion that allows us to connect with everyone. More importantly it is an opportunity for us to discover who we are, and what we are made of. This way we can grow, and eventually reach out to others when they are sad.
