Shattering the Stigma

You don’t like to stand so close to me

You don’t want to see things the way I see

You’re afraid you’ll become just like what I’ll be

Ask yourself what it is you want to be

If you had a choice you would never be me

Your fear guides you too far away to see

You pretend you’ve got some other place to be

Do you know what hurts the most?

You don’t even know what I struggle with lately

You can’t be bothered with learning about how I feel

Are our lives so far apart?

Maybe you’ve got a broken heart

Perhaps you’ve watched it all fall apart

And when it does, where do you turn?

What if you had a friend like me?

Strong enough to conquer those fears daily

What if I could show you how to be strong

Or that surrounding me with stigma is wrong?

What if you felt it all for just one day?

Maybe you would have a lot more to say

If you could look through the eyes of mental illness

Would you really find so much of a difference?

I bet you’ve had good days and bad days

I bet you’ve felt lost and out of place

I think you’re scared of the way you feel

So you blame it on something that’s not even real

Stop for a second and take a look

Ask me a question, maybe share a look

Be nice to everyone you meet

You never know what pain they’ve beat

You don’t have to look sick to be sick

You don’t have to look ignorant to be ignorant

If you try it, you could gain something you’ve always longed for

If you carry your shield of stigma forever

What confusion you’ll endure

Maybe you don’t want to know me

What about him?

Standing there looking scared

Or her, with her nose in a book

So nobody truly sees her

There are many faces of pain and sorrow

And there are many faces of stigma

You don’t have to struggle with either

If you reach out and find the wrong person,

will you blame it on the disease? Probably.

But you’ll have learned

So that the next time you meet someone like me

Standing in a crowd, terrified of the judgment

and the stares, you’ll know to go slow.

Trust isn’t easy to give or receive

When you find an ally in a face in a crowd,

Couldn’t that be your proudest moment of all?