The True Measure

And Our Collective Shortcoming

Last week I had the opportunity to film a 25-minute segment of “Iowa Press” for Iowa PBS on the topic of mental healthcare in Iowa. I joined my great friend and fellow advocate Leslie Carpenter, along with host Kay Henderson, and moderators Caleb McCullough and Dave Price (a fellow Iowa Writers’ Collaborative member).

It was a unique chance for us to not only discuss some of the current mental healthcare legislation still churning through the state capital, but to also talk about our personal reasons for getting involved in mental healthcare reform.

Leslie’s story about how and why she got involved, which she beautifully tells during our roundtable chat, is as personal as it gets: she’s a mother fighting for her seriously ill adult son.

I also had a turn to tell my story about how and why I became involved, a story I’ve told many times, including here. But what I wish I’d had time to add is something important to note about my story.

Prior to April of 2017, I’d never given a moment’s thought about mental healthcare issues and the need for system reform.

At that time, no one close to me suffered from a serious mental illness (SMI), and I knew no one who had struggled to get a loved one help in our state system. In early 2017, mental healthcare issues “weren’t my problem.”

But here’s why my story is such an important compliment alongside Leslie’s:

Even though I didn’t have a mentally ill child or spouse or sibling or parent, the mental healthcare crisis in our state still ended up becoming my problem simply because of the proximity of my house.

And this is precisely what I desperately want Iowans to realize:

It’s everyone’s problem to care about.

No one is untouched by the mental healthcare crisis in our state anymore. It’s affecting our neighbors, co-workers, schools, universities, and even public spaces we merely pass through.

Of course it’s human nature to care most about things that directly impact our lives, that we can see and point to. Our taxes, bank accounts, our children’s test scores, the roads we drive on.

But, as Leslie constantly says, we must do better. We must be better than that. We must care about the things that we can’t always see and point to in our own lives.

To quote Mahatma Gandhi, “The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.”

It’s time we measure up. It’s time we collectively care about our fellow society members who aren’t able to care for themselves, and demand more from our state and legislators. ~

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I’m a proud member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. We’re a group of writers from all around the state and contribute commentary and feature stories of interest for those who care about Iowa. Readership and paid support helps keep us going!

A few of my favorite Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Columns:

Dave Price

e Dave Price’s Perspective

Jody Gifford

Benign Inspiration

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