The intensity of things can be all-encompassing. This year has been hard and scary for millions of people. As we watch our country act on persecution, oppression, and capitalize on fear-mongering for the powerful elite to have all the toys. Nearly 80% of the people served by Pulse are on Medicaid because we believe that behavioral health creates change in people’s lives that is lasting – and that all people deserve care, compassion, dignity, and love. As this country leaves the poorest and most vulnerable to fend for themselves while a few men make big rockets to play in, Pulse wants and believes in change.
I can’t provide the hope you need in a time like this, and that is not my intention. What I know about healing and love is that meaning-making is, sometimes, all we have. Through the hardest of losses and the biggest of changes in my life, I eventually realize that I need to make something out of the mess and the muck. In High School (that’s me in the header for this post), I had a school counselor named Judy. Looking back, she was so young, maybe 26 or so, but she saved me; over and over and over. In one year, she taught me to hug, love with abandon, and get out of NYC. At 15, I had said to her, one day, that I was unable to mold my life into anything because I had no power, I was simply a child. The next day, she gave me Play-Doh and explained that I had the power to mold my future. Her kindness and her ability to see me, saved me.
I grew up wanting to do that for others; to be that for others. I have served unabashedly because I know the power of service. Pulse is nimble, and we can pivot. Our desire to serve those who are vulnerable and need help will not waver.
I am asking you to feel inside you that you are not alone. That someone is here for you. That LOVE WILL FUCKING WIN! Let’s get some Play-Doh, or whatever you need to remind you of the power you possess in a world that wants you to forget.