One of my Facebook friends shared this...

Pretty much sums things up,  yes? It was on a shared status by Pete Caballero.  Not sure if he's the originator or not,  but whoever did this captured how I felt today about the world. Thanks to Carl Hylin for sharing.

We need more of these programmes

Suspension Is Not the Answer: Investing in Students' Mental Health Yields Academic Gains

Unfortunately, "support structures" and "second chances" are severely lacking for many in America today, particularly in minority and low-income communities. The United States has the most prisoners of any developed country in the world, both in terms of raw numbers and by percentage of the population. More citizens are behind bars in the US than in Russia, Mexico, Iran, India and China.

Who makes up America's prison population? Often inmates are adults who endured terrible violence and trauma as children, such as witnessing a parent's murder. A study by The Sentencing Project found that juveniles who received sentences of life in prison reported witnessing violence in their homes 79% of the time, and more than half (54.1%) witnessed weekly violence in their neighborhoods.

Children who are exposed to violence tend to suffer from a range of psychological issues, and often have "difficulties with attachment, regressive behavior, anxiety and depression and conduct problems." Without mental health support services, few are able to cope with the emotional stress in a productive manner on their own. Confused, angry or scared, a student's cries for help are commonly first expressed by acting out in school.

Regrettably, a school's frequent response to a student's "misbehavior" is ineffectual: just when the young person needs support and professional help the most, they are suspended, kicked back to the streets alone and vulnerable. According to the US Department of Education, the number of students who receive some form of academic suspension in America each year could fill 45 Super Bowl stadiums.

A look at violence and the mentally ill

Bipolar disorder 'not to blame for violent behaviour'
Good news: Those with mental illness, including bipolar disorder, are no more likely to be violent than the general population, despite public perceptions otherwise.
Bad news: In cases of violence, substance abuse is the main contributing factor, a factor that those with mental illness tend to be at risk for.
Good news: The rate of violence between substance abusers, whether mentally ill or not, is basically the same.

Or so went my reading of this article. A similar study came to the same conclusion regarding schizophrenia. Both bipolar disorder (in some instances, although not generally) and schizophrenia can produce psychotic episodes (losing touch with reality, hearing voices, etc.).

But I thought these two quotes were quite appropriate:

Paul Farmer, chief executive of the mental health charity Mind, said the research would reassure people with severe illnesses such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

"The link between mental illness and violence is often grossly exaggerated when in fact people with mental health problems are far more likely to be the victims of crime than the perpetrators.

"This kind of stigma damages lives," he said.

The charity Sane said it was "surprised" the research appeared to overlook the "realities of severe mental illness".

Its chief executive Marjorie Wallace said: "We accept that alcohol and drug abuse can exacerbate the more acute symptoms and that such abuse is more widely responsible for criminal acts.

"We also accept that the majority of people with mental illness are never violent and the chances of a member of the public being attacked at random extremely rare.

"However, we do not believe it is helpful to underplay the extreme pain, paranoia and denial of symptoms such as command voices which those with psychosis can experience and which may trigger damaging behaviour."

Not that I thought I was going to run out whacking on people like they were zombies just because I'm bipolar. :)

I wish this young man and the other students of his school--Asian, black, or whatever--a bright future

Racial violence changes student — and school

PHILADELPHIA — Duong Nghe Ly can't wait to begin his senior year at South Philadelphia High School. A day of violence there last year changed his life, and he wants to learn if his school has been transformed as well.

Last Dec. 3, after years of attacks on Asian immigrant students, something finally snapped.

Fueled by rumors, a group of students roamed the halls searching for Asian victims until one was attacked in a classroom. Later, about 70 students stormed the cafeteria, where several Asians were beaten. About 35 students pushed past a police officer onto the so-called "Asian floor," but were turned back. After school, Asians being escorted home were attacked anyway by a mob of youths.

Almost all the attackers were black — but few observers believe the violence was due to racial hatred. Instead, they cite isolation of different groups within the school, certain students' warped "gangster" values, and for some, simmering resentments over perceived benefits for Asian students.

As poor ethnically Chinese growing up in Vietnam, Ly and his family faced an uphill battle. His parents spent years and carefully saved money to come to this country legally, working long hours to make sure he and his brother got an education, something they never were able to do. Attacks on Asian students have been a problem for years, but in this largely immigrant population, it was considered better to keep your head down and your mouth closed. That changed last year. Ly, like many other students, responded with a boycott. Steps are being made to more fully integrate the students, and the new principal--a black Philly native who seems to really understand the forces at work there--is trying to change the conditions that led to the violence.

I wish Ly and his family the best of luck. They represent the pursuit of the American dream in action and I hope they attain it, making all the sacrifice worthwhile. And in the meantime, I hope his senior year will be much better both for Asians and for the other ethnicities as well.

Violence begets violence

Muslims, Christians set homes ablaze in Egypt: Fires follow killing of 6 Christians on Coptic Christmas, rape of Muslim girl

The area of Nagaa Hamady, a little north of Luxor in Aegypt, has become in embroiled in violence after the (Coptic) Christmas Eve [Wednesday night] drive-by shooting of six Coptic Christians. Two of the three men held are believed to be related to a Muslim girl who was said to be raped about a month ago by a Copt. In the wake of the shootings, four Muslim shops in a nearby village and four Coptic houses in another have been torched. Demonstrations also yielded several arrests.

Here's hoping for peace to reassert itself. Copts and Muslims have co-existed in Aegypt for many hundreds of years, and I'd like to see this as an isolated incident that will die down. But whenever you get into retaliation violence, there's a tendency for it to escalate first.

Disturbing

Police patrol South Africa riot zone

22 people have been killed and 13,000 displaced by xenophobic violence against foreigners, many of them other Africans.