Advocacy

"It is impossible to love God and not our fellow man," Joel Goldsmith.

I believe that is true. It is impossible to love God and/or be religious or spiritual, while also being unkind to others. It is appalling the atrocities committed in the name of a religion, it is also appalling the unkindnesses inflicted within families. During the many years that I worked with individuals who had intellectual disabilities, I worked to empower them to be able to stand up for themselves, as they were easy victims of bullies. So, too, do we have an opportunity to help people with dementia defend themselves against unkindness, intolerance, and pressure to do what someone else wants.

A current mental health concept is to choose our conversations. Let us help the people for whom we provide care be engaged in conversations that support them, uphold them and add dignity to their lives, while avoiding conversations meant to denigrate. Unfortunately, it seems there may always be people who use bullying tactics with othrs, but we have an obligation to not allow it. It is a disservice to everyone to allow bullying and disrespectful behavior.