Halloween Horror of the Billboard

Among the assortment of witches, goblins and candy bags dotting our neighborhoods this Halloween season [one of the theme parks] had a billboard advertising a Halloween event with a picture of a seemingly crazed man wrapped in a straitjacket.

This violent “mental patient” was overshadowing a busy road on the edge of Winter Park when I saw last week.

The decision to market Halloween horror with this frightening portrait of mental illness was made in error.  But there’s something stronger than stereotypes standing on the shoulders of this larger- than- life lunatic. It is a high profile opportunity to bring out the truth about mental illnesses.

[The theme park] exploited the perception that violence is a trait of mental illness by using images to lure paying customers into a night of simulated terror.  But living with these often-chronic disorders isn’t like a ride through an amusement park and the suffering they cause doesn’t come and go with Halloween night.

The picture of prejudice painted on this billboard deepens the divide between facts and stereotypes, effectively obscuring the understanding that people living with serious mental illnesses are more often victims of violence than perpetrators.

In addition, there are many people still living with the scars and tears of the abuses that ran rampant through state institutions before human-rights organizations exposed them. The use of straitjackets was among the most egregious of these abuses.

Mental- health advocates from all walks of life have been working for years to break down the barriers of stigma and discrimination.  The tedious, tireless and often anonymous efforts of these dedicated people have been damaged by the single blow of a billboard.

In 2013, mental illness should not be haunting Halloween.  [The theme park] should have left this graphic image of mental illness in the Dark Ages.

People living with these disorders of the brain are not lunatics.  They are among the most courageous people on earth.

Peggy J. Symons

Copyright, Orlando Sentinel Communications, 2013

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A Thanksgiving Prayer was one of the first poems I wrote. I bring this prayer into Thanksgiving, 2021 because the tearing turmoil of our times raises the question where is the hope of Thanksgiving to be found? I found it in the Thanksgiving Prayer.

A THANKSGIVING PRAYER

In troubled times,

With troubled minds,

We turn to You and pray,

Thank you God for life and hope this Thanksgiving Day.

As conflicts rage, a way of life,

The human spirit falls,

But underneath it all,

Listen to the quiet call,

To honor life and work through strife

Gathered together each for all.

And so we pray Thanksgiving Day,

To use our gifts to heal the rifts of hate and hurt and fear,

That all may know the Love of God

And feel His Presence near.

In Thanksgiving, Peggy J. Symons    Copyright

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THE HOLIDAY BRIDGE                                       

The holidays are falling over the city in a blanket of holiday trees and blinking lights. Bells are ringing out for the needy hoping to be heard.

Embraced by the sights and sounds of the season I thought of the advocates and workers who have dedicated their lives to helping people with mental illnesses.

I saw them as they are; people from all walks of life with their hands joined in a just and common cause.

In a vision of many colors and details, I could see they were building a bridge. It was a beautiful bridge, finely designed and engineered with the best of intentions, dedication and hope.

There were many people working on the bridge. Each one had a different but necessary gift or trade. No one’s gift was insignificant or diminished in any way by a mental illness.

In the light of the bridge building, some of the advocates were welcoming the workers; others were bringing gifts of laughter and smiles that lightened everyone’s work.

Many people living with mental illnesses were working on the bridge knowing that it cannot stand without them.

The rivets holding their work together were made out of the promise of a new day; the strength of the bridge was in its finest details and the efforts of many hands.

Everyone who came to the building of the bridge brought gifts of light and unique beauty but the brightest lights on the bridge came from the hands of the workers who thought no one noticed their gifts.

When the bridge is done, it will span the distance between darkness and daybreak. It will illuminate the night sky where stigma and discrimination still have their hold.

People will cross from one side to the other; the generosity of the builders will show them the way.

They will find courage, perseverance and the hope from which the plans of the bridge were drawn.

As I walked around the vision of the bridge and its exquisite details I could see it had already been built in heaven. I saw the workers and advocates, especially the weary ones, and all the gifts they brought to the bridge.

They were not ordinary gifts packaged in paper or wrapped up with ribbons; they were gifts of their finest work, freely given in the hope of a better day.

Through the people working on the bridge, I see that the greatest gifts we have to give are not holiday trees or the blinking lights of a passing season; they are the steady lights of our finest works, unblended hope and the vision of a better day for all of us.

Copyright Peggy Symons                                                                                                                                                                     

The Light of the Christmas Star

Thanksgiving Day opens the floodgates into the annual shopping season even before the dishes are put away.

So we run, run, run through internet sales, grocery stores and New Year’s parties timed to the relentless drumbeat of too much to do and too little time to finish.

But when the rush of the day is over and night nears, sometimes there is little left but a vague sense that something important slipped through our hands.

If we pause here and look deeply into these quiet moments, we can see the holidays as they really are; they are filled with people who are lonely, depressed and confused.

Every year armies of tired shoppers sort through sales racks silently looking for the light of Christmas, knowing that their hands will be empty when they get home; there is nothing left of the light but Black Friday. They shop until they drop, but running the Christmas treadmill is useless; the light just keeps moving farther from reach. Discouraged, they quietly slip into the ranks of people who lived through holidays so dark and difficult that when Christmas comes, they close the doors and shutter their windows, because the light hurts their eyes.

Many think they don’t have anything to give or even that their lives don’t matter but they are among the brightest treasures of the season; life’s greatest gifts are in their reach.

With courage, forgiveness and the persistence to keep looking past empty sales racks and beyond the artificial lights of the season, it is still possible to see the light of the Christmas. His name is Jesus. He followed us all the way from a little town named Bethlehem to illuminate the dark and lonely places Christmas is slipping through our hands. All the silver bells of the season cannot overtake the value of His gift; no darkness or distance can extinguish His light, even depression and despair cannot diminish the power of His freely given gift.

But the eyes of this weary world are still sweeping the silence of the night sky looking for the promise of peace for a planet that never rests.

The star that rose over the birthplace of hope hasn’t disappeared into the blinking lights that deck the halls of the holidays; it doesn’t rise or fall or come and go with passing seasons. The light of Christmas present is the same as Christmas past.

Although the tumult of our times would seem to hide the light, we have never been left alone to lose our way in the blinding speed of the unimportant.

Hope is not far away; just follow the Christmas Star

Peggy J. Symons  © Copyright

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                      Beautiful Christmas Gifts-FREE!

One of the saddest truths about customer service work is that customers rarely notice how hard the employees work. When you tell some of them how hard you see they are working you find some of the deepest gratitude on earth.

When cashiers and employees seem disinterested, distracted or uncaring they may be working for wages so low there will be no Christmas gifts for their families. They may have a sick child at home and no way to pay a doctor. Or been so badly treated by customers who came before you they cannot bear even one more smile.

Remember their names and that a gift for their Christmas can be the honor and recognition of their management; maybe even a raise or promotion.

There are also people working very hard hoping to advance into a management position or a career occupation. Notice them.

A customer who sends an email to the company headquarters, writes a letter, calls or stops to speak to a manager can make those dreams come true.

Once you catch the name of a store employee or customer service agent for a Christmas gift it is fairly easy to compliment them.

The company or store website usually has a “contact us” option or a feedback page. This is a good place to enter your comments by email.

Look for the store number and address on your receipt. Note the date and time. When you call, email or write, the company will ask for this information.

I find that when emailing compliments to companies I sometimes have to identify myself. But that’s ok with me because many of the employees are so busy with other customers connecting my name and face would be unlikely.

On Christmas Eve when all your compliments and notes of appreciation are done your own gifts will begin to arrive. They will be easy to see because they are close to your heart. Some will be wrapped in hope, others in faith and love. The names of everyone whose life you touched will be on the gift tags.

Every year these gifts will return to you because there is no end to faith, hope and love and their power to change lives.

(I thought back over some contacts with customer service agents and remember that I was less than aware of the difficulties of their jobs. I am going back to contact their corporate offices and let them know I appreciate their employees. They are now my Christmas list.)

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The Light of the Christmas Star

Thanksgiving Day opens the floodgates into the annual shopping season even before the dishes are put away.

So we run, run, run through internet sales, grocery stores and New Year’s parties timed to the relentless drumbeat of too much to do and too little time to finish.

But when the rush of the day is over and night nears, sometimes there is little left but a vague sense that something important slipped through our hands.

If we pause here and look deeply into these quiet moments, we can see the holidays as they really are; they are filled with people who are lonely, depressed and confused.

Every year armies of tired shoppers sort through sales racks silently looking for the light of Christmas, knowing that their hands will be empty when they get home; there is nothing left of the light but Black Friday. They shop until they drop, but running the Christmas treadmill is useless; the light just keeps moving farther from reach. Discouraged, they quietly slip into the ranks of people who lived through holidays so dark and difficult that when Christmas comes, they close the doors and shutter their windows, because the light hurts their eyes.

Many think they don’t have anything to give or even that their lives don’t matter but they are among the brightest treasures of the season; life’s greatest gifts are in their reach.

With courage, forgiveness and the persistence to keep looking past empty sales racks and beyond the artificial lights of the season, it is still possible to see the light of the Christmas. His name is Jesus. He followed us all the way from a little town named Bethlehem to illuminate the dark and lonely places Christmas is slipping through our hands. All the silver bells of the season cannot overtake the value of His gift; no darkness or distance can extinguish His light, even depression and despair cannot diminish the power of His freely given gift.

But the eyes of this weary world are still sweeping the silence of the night sky looking for the promise of peace for a planet that never rests.

The star that rose over the birthplace of hope hasn’t disappeared into the blinking lights that deck the halls of the holidays; it doesn’t rise or fall or come and go with passing seasons. The light of Christmas present is the same as Christmas past.

Although the tumult of our times would seem to hide the light, we have never been left alone to lose our way in the blinding speed of the unimportant.

Hope is not far away; just follow the Christmas Star

Peggy J. Symons  © Copyright

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