Thursday 18 February 2016

Say what you want to say!

Lately there is a post going viral around Facebook about the children who have special needs and don't get invited to birthday parties. The forgotten ones. This mass following of social media 'literature' makes me weep because I couldn't think of anything more impersonal than a lonely, special needs, forgotten child being passed off for a stock standard message that requires no effort besides copy and paste.


 Even in our most vulnerable of times when we know someone is feeling terrible the best we can do is be bare enough to show we agree with a person's message? The sad thing is literature has always been better than that. Literature was always an outflowing of emotions inked on a page. Why have we lost the ability to honestly care and show it through our own scripted words?


It is true, 21st century sees a mass onslaught of technology and a considerable backseat to book and old school literature but the medium should not, must not, change the art.


Its not the first time I have thought about this. A passionate, outspoken person on the issues of domestic violence and suicide I try to do the best I can to use literature to shed light on the dark situations that are life's realities. People might read but they don't want to talk about, share it, let alone post their own emotions about a topic. Its a gut wrenching reality to realise that people are either too PC or simply don't care about each other enough to state their own personalised message.


Those special needs children, yes they are forgotten, uninvited but they are more forgotten and criticized by the adult majority not children. Children might be worried about peer acceptance or don't fully understand how others are different but the reality is adults do. What's more its kids breaking down the superficial barriers not adults.


Those people who commit suicide, its highly likely you would never have a clue they are even thinking of it. They could be the happiest person you ever know but the point is they don't want you to know what there problems are because they don't want to burden you. So they'll showcase a face to ensure that yours isn't turned upside down until they no longer can. Yet on 'are you ok day' people can't be bothered to recognise that its their everyday actions that lead to isolating others and it takes a far mire concerted effort than one honest check in a year.


That mother who appears to have it all together, she's broken inside worrying what's going on with her kid, whether she's doing anything right and hating that she'll be judged anyway.


The person with a mental health condition is the silent ghost in the room who has perfected being silent because society isn't comfortable dealing with someone who might have odd, off the cuff moments.


The domestic violence victims live in fear each day that the horrors of the past will relive themselves. That their dreams will be taken over by nightmarish taunts.


The brave person who's constantly calm and getting on with things, whom everyone thinks has it all together  just wants people to stop thinking their perfect and go a little crazy.


The homosexuals want people to understand  that dealing with who they are at times is as difficult as stubborn people dealing with the fact that gay people exist of no fault if their own. But they love who they are and life just the same as everyone else.


The writers...they just want people to show real emotion in a century whereby a mass message is meant to comfort a group of mass sufferers and outcasts.


Put your heart on your sleeve people. Be vulnerable, pick up your pen, press some keys and actually say how YOU feel. Whether you're the next best writer or not doesn't matter what matters is that you do it.



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