Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness around the world.

April 22, 2007

Today’s Announcements

 Dear friends/family,

Thank you for your prayers and concerns over my recent two day stay at the hospital which found fluid behind the mastoid bone which has been causing the

Vertigo.  It is great to know that it isn't anything life threatening but just a discomfort

to be so dizzy that you have a fear of falling.  I am on strong antibiotics plus antivert which is used for the purpose.

I would still appreciate your keeping the mail to a minimum for a few days as I am

weary from a battery of hospital tests; cats can, mri, heart ultrasound, chest x-ray

and all of the blood tests which they require for their results.

I am taking it slowly so bear with me as you are a very important part of my life.

God bless you all,   Normie: hoopla214@yahoo.com

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Today’s Stories

~**~**~

VIRGINIA TECH SHOOTINGS & MENTAL ILLNESS

Duane Bates

Every time we have a mass killing/shooting occur the issue of mental illness is raised.  Why didn’t someone notice the killer was having problems and get him help?  Mental illness is just as excuse for evil people doing evil things, etc, etc.  As a retired therapist who worked in a jail I would like to say it would be wonderful if we could predict the behavior of anyone, mentally ill or not, but we can’t. 

I would like to remind everyone of the man who was the shooter in the Amish School killings and woundings. He seemed normal to everyone with whom he worked and had interactions.  He married, held a job, and had kids of his own.  Fellow workers stated he was a “normal” person who got on well with everyone. The only thing that anyone noticed was that he had become somewhat withdrawn in the weeks before the shootings.

After his horrible deeds, and his own death, we have discovered from his own writings that he had been seriously mentally ill for years.  He felt immense guilt over a sexual molestation that he claimed he committed as a teen against young, female relatives and had some type of “grudge” against young females.  The female relatives, now adults, said no such molestation ever occurred, so evidently he was seriously delusional or suffered from some other type of mental illness.

Something that we will never know about or understand triggered the actions of that day, but it was almost certainly something that happened inside his brain, emotions and perception of reality.

Mentally ill persons are rarely a physical threat to themselves or others, but these isolated instances, coupled with modern methods of killing or injuring large numbers of people in a matter of minutes and the instant distribution of the news to a world-wide audience multiplies the impact tremendously.

Gun ownership by itself is not the problem.  A number of states have installed concealed carry laws with virtually no problems, and lives have been saved or crimes thwarted as the result.  The states, and the Federal government, have established a system to screen out people who should not have the right to carry guns because of prior convictions, but no system can prevent person with an unknown or concealed mental illness from obtaining a weapon. It is impossible for a gun dealer to access the mental health history of any person wanting to purchase a gun because of privacy laws.

As I am writing this, it has been announced that all the killings and shootings at Virginia Tech were the acts of a South Korean student.  It is very important that law enforcement and mental health professionals interview all the students and faculty that had contact with the shooter to determine if there were any indications of mental or emotional health issues and to construct a personality profile.  I will be very surprised if anyone noticed any behavioral predictors that could have alerted us to his terrible actions so that it could have been prevented.

Duane Bates

batesduane@yahoo.com

~**~**~

 CHO SEUNG-HUI:  ALL THE SIGNS OF TROUBLE WERE THERE

Duane Bates

But they were ignored or minimized by teachers, family and other adults in a position to intervene at an early age.  Even at this early stage in the investigation into the Virginia Tech shootings, disturbing questions are surfacing concerning the signs of serious mental illness that appeared in his early childhood, but were ignored. Relatives and schoolmates are now reporting that Cho was seriously withdrawn at an early age, and all through his school years.  His aunt reported that he was “cold”; his uncle stated that as a child he spoke so infrequently that his family feared he was mute.

His peers in high school predictably reacted to Cho’s strange, withdrawn behavior by making him a target for bullying and ridicule, intensifying his feelings of paranoia and alienation, feeding his building anger that eventually exploded at Virginia Tech.  To their credit, two of his room mates at Virginia Tech tried their best to bring him to the attention of the mental health system when he made a reference to suicide, but by this time in his life only major interventions, including long-term mandated hospitalization and medications, had a real chance to bring Cho back from the abyss.

 Although we can never be sure, Cho appears to have suffered from selective mutism and/or, some type of psychotic disorder from a very early age.  Selective mutism is a condition when a person can speak, but chooses not too.  When this condition manifests itself in a very young child, without an underlying physical condition or other explanation, it needs prompt professional intervention.  As with any mental, emotional or mental illness issue, the earlier the intervention, the more likely a positive outcome.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), selective mutism, is characterized by excessive shyness, fear of social embarrassment, social isolation, and withdrawal.  There can be severe impairment in social and school functioning, and the child may be the target of bullying and scapegoating.  All of these situations appear to have occurred in Cho’s life. Based on the comments of his fellow students at Virginia Tech, Cho was very intelligent.  Just the fact that he completed high school and was accepted at Virginia Tech shows that his intelligence was, at minimum, normal or above average.

His intelligence allowed him to know which of his inner thoughts and feelings to deny to mental health professionals and to plan his revenge for the insults, real and imagined, that he felt.  If his writings that his fellow students and professors found so disturbing had come from a student that had a normal affect and social interactions, he would have been considered creative, if slightly off center, but not threatening.  After all, our society provides large economic and social rewards to the creators of movies like Pulp Fiction, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Silence of the Lambs and the plethora of other violent books, movies, TV programs and video games.

As a retired therapist that worked almost exclusively with emotionally and behaviorally disordered children and jail inmates, I can only wonder when we are going to wake up and fully fund a mental health system that focuses on identifying and treating children that display serious issues during their early childhood.  What actions, if any, did the teachers and counselors take to provide Cho with the care he obviously needed during his school years? We will have to wait on more information on this subject.

I can understand the reluctance, given the stigma of mental illness in all human societies, of parents to accept that their son or daughter has a mental illness, but our child protective services are supposed to intervene, using the court system if necessary, to see that children get the physical and mental health treatments and protection they deserve.  The sad truth is that, based on the amount of money directed toward funding mental and health care for our kids and child protective services, children are simply not a high priority in our society.

If just one percent of the gross revenues from football and basketball games at the high school, college and university levels, including TV revenues, were directed to funding a comprehensive child protective and comprehensive health services in elementary schools in our nation alone, we could make a real impact on improving the adult outcomes of the our children in a less than a decade. 

One again, we see how the most important action we can take in improving our lives, both individually, as families, and as a society is to develop positive values and make sure that our daily behaviors are a reflection of those values. 

Duane Bates

batesduane@yahoo.com

~**~**~

Poetry Corner

~**~**~

 Thoughts Of Consolation To Those Who Grieve
Cynthia Groopman

To all of you dear friends, who mourn and grieve,
With these words of consolation, your pain and sorrow, I shall try to
relieve
Always remember that you are never alone,
Because God's gentle and soothing voice is whispering encouraging words to
you in a loving Fatherly tone.
With His soft bright beacon of Divine Light, He will safely guide you along
life's winding highway,
Adorning your life's sky with strength, renewed courage and glowing
rainbows of hope, enabling you to face each new day.
For your loved ones who perished at the evil hand of the terrorists' rage,
shall be heroic, gallant and beloved, too,
And from their eternal dwelling place from Heaven Above, they are watching
over you
Please do not cry and try not to shed a tear,
Because the Divine Presence of our Heavenly Father is forever near.
Darkness in your mournful skies will vanish and blue skies will soon
appear,
And no longer will your weary heart tremble with fright and fear.
For as the sun will spectacularly rise and radiantly shine tomorrow

Cynthia L. Groopman
cynthia.Groopman@verizon.net
Copyright ©2004 Cynthia Groopman

~**~**~

 MY GOD’S BLOOD

Sandra L. Hoynacki

He washed my heart with the blood he had shed

In sackcloth I knelt stained with drops he had bled

My child I’ve taken the black of your garment

Its woven anew hemmed in blood red atonement

What a beautiful adorning as pure as a child

I held it close so I could hide all the vile

I could see every stitch of forgiveness therein

He had sewn his righteousness taking my sin

With his voice of caring he said unto me

My spirit I leave a cloak of comfort for thee

I must now return to my Fathers’ right hand

But I’ll always be with you, within you I stand

I felt the surrounding and warmth in my soul

As he draped it inside and replaced the cold

From that day on I was to walk through the night

But God up in heaven had avowed my fight

He never promised that dark wouldn’t come

Within he would be, my total Master the sum

In the blackest of night when I couldn’t see

Through the valley of death he would carry me

March 13, 2007

Sandra L Hoynacki

sandylh@cox.net

 ~**~**~

Readers Feedback

Dear Sister Helen,

I will be honored to help carry your load today.  I feel your shock.  I humble myself with you at the Cross of JESUS.  FATHER GOD in the Name of YOUR SON JESUS we approach to praise YOU for a life that requires YOU>  We praise YOU for it is written that YOU inhabit praise.  And we require YOU now LORD.  FATHER GOD in the way that only YOU can, fill my sister Helen with more of YOU.  Collect her tears and require them of her.  She and her husband are of one flesh and Helen has lost her leg.  FATHER I thank YOU for the extra love YOU show for Helen today.  Your sister in CHRIST,  Duffy Eroline

Yesterday issue of Storytime Tapestry: Carol! This has got to be one of your very best issues ever, as it captures the heartfelt moments of this tragedy word by word from start to finish.
The link Bill Walker submitted will wring tears from the toughest, believe me.
Thanks
Mark Crider

Hi Carol....

Thanks for printing my response.    Now you've got me going....    this is just a shorty, though.

Robyn Cavalera wrote:

<In my opinion the answer to the killings in Va. is very simple.  Put God back into the schools where He used to be.  Teach the Word of God and read it daily the first thing in the day before classes.  >

This is critical, I believe, to healing our world.   But we must include more of God than just His words.   There is expressing ourselves through art, music and literature, as well as physical and mental gymnastics.  Students are not taught that there are creative ways to express themselves.    Music especially, and art, can express love and tenderness, but also can portray violence, hatred, frustration, self-loathing and a vast array of emotions without hurting anyone.    We all have feelings that we do not want to keep within us, but most of us have learned ways in which we can vent our feelings without hurting anyone, including ourselves.   The arts, as self-expression, are an amazing release and, I think, far more successful and long-lasting than time on a psychiatrist's couch.    May we all try to offer help to someone in need.

Bruce Cornely

Gainesville FL

hydrant@baskerbeagles.com

 Thanks again, Carol, for all your work.   You do a wonderful job, service, and ministry!

Bruce Cornely
Scritchies and Haruffaroo-bahawow...
Bruce and the Baskerbeagles at HowlingAcres
http://baskerbeagles.com

Helen,

I am so sorry to hear about Hart. But with the Lord's help he will get through it and so will you. You both love the Lord and He loves you too. So, He will not give you more than you can handle. God love you both and keep you in His protection and care.

Nell

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Clara Westerfer, Mark Crider, Rosanne Catalano, Paula Booher, Kay Seefeldt, Mariane Holbrook, Mary Ellen Grisham, Louise Nomani, Sharon Bryant, Angela Walker, Hart and Helen Dowd, Keith Ready, Ginger Morgenstern, Ellie Braun-Haley, Surinder Jandu, Bob Shaw, Carol Meeks