People think I'm joking when I say I write a letter to the president every day. I feel it is my duty and a fine exercise of my freedom of speech. It is also a pathetic waste of time as it is clear none of my letters get read. I think of escalating the issues to get attention, but then I worry, being bipolar, my judgement over what would be appropriate escalation could get me involved with the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security and all those other creeps in dark clothes who plant bugs all over your house.
So I keep my letters very low key and sane and stick to one subject: Obama's crazy support of nuclear power. For example, today's letter:
Dear Barack and Michelle:
Would you rather your daughters raise their families adjacent to a wind farm, a solar panel field or sandwiched between two nuclear power plants which is how I had to raise my own children? Michelle, how can you be so concerned about organic farming without thinking about nuclear radiation?You may have gone to Harvard, but so did I and I think there is something scarily wrong with your decision making.
A few weeks ago when I had a toxic reaction to lithium, I became very cognitively confused and disabled. My psychiatrist gave me a mental status exam, having me do things like draw clocks and memorize lists of words. I did terribly, and she sent me to an emergency room. But the thing she looked most astonished about was when she asked me who was the president and I told her and then said I write him every day. She looked horrified, like I had just flunked the ultimate test of psychosis. I tried to explain, but it was incomprehensible to her. She was raised in Russia, and still has an accent. Nobody writes daily letters to President Putin without expecting a definitive invitation to the Gulag.
7 comments:
I think that's a great idea. If MILLIONS of people wrote every day it would help out the Postal Service and also generate jobs. Sooner or later, President Obama and Michelle might actually READ one too. ":)
Perhaps she took it as a symptom of obsessive behavior instead of chalking it up to civic duty. So many people could give a crap less about civic duty anymore that it probably does look obsesive to write daily to some people.
Alas, Raymond the Optimist! All my letters are e mails. It would cost a fortune to use the US Postal Service and since they aren't read anyway I could use the postage for an exotic vacation.
Storm: I could see the shock on her face. She could not even grasp the concept as anything other than a sign of severe, obsessional psychopathology. We haven't discussed it since, but I know it was a purely cross-cultural phenomenon and I don't want to waste my session time trying to educate her.
I don't blame you, but I do think it's sad that she would be shocked. If you were writing harassing or threatening letters I could see that maybe there would be a problem with that. But to daily write as a constituent with your concerns is something that more of the general population should take on as a civic duty.
I was pretty clear with her that I was writing against nuclear power and not crazy threats, but to her, even just focusing on nuclear power seemed frightening. I probably should clarify it at some point. It could come up with another patient.
I don't see anything wrong with your letter writing at all. It comes from the right place - wanting a better and safer future for our children. It would be so great if Obama would read one and respond. I keep hoping he will....
It really makes you feel like a nobody when you keep writing letters that don't get responses. I keep writing because I need to though.
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