It may be a little unclear, but the post above is my correspondence with the twelve people who I thank in my foreword (generally, senior academics who have helped me over the years... but also Marc Fisher, who wrote some articles about Lifespring in the 1980s,and who is now a senior editor at the Washington Post).
What is clearly revealed in this email exchange is how all the knowledge in the world is completely worthless when you don't have the compassion to help those who are really struggling. I've been off work "sick" (apparently, I'm crazy) and so I let my students know that I had to take some time off for my mental health. I received so many messages from these young people, expressing such compassion and kindness, yet nothing from these professors... some of whom have worked with me, who invite me to give (free) workshops on bipolar disorder every year, who have supervised my masters and PhD, and who have far more insight into the severity of my mental health problems than these young students. What age were you when you became hard to the suffering of others... when you lost hope that the world could be a better place? What would you give to regain that hope... to live in a world where people loved each other?
What is clearly revealed in this email exchange is how all the knowledge in the world is completely worthless when you don't have the compassion to help those who are really struggling. I've been off work "sick" (apparently, I'm crazy) and so I let my students know that I had to take some time off for my mental health. I received so many messages from these young people, expressing such compassion and kindness, yet nothing from these professors... some of whom have worked with me, who invite me to give (free) workshops on bipolar disorder every year, who have supervised my masters and PhD, and who have far more insight into the severity of my mental health problems than these young students. What age were you when you became hard to the suffering of others... when you lost hope that the world could be a better place? What would you give to regain that hope... to live in a world where people loved each other?