I've been in the humor bsiness for over 50 years, so whn I built my website, I knw there would be plenty of hmor. But, I wanted more than tht! I wanted to address other mportant issues in all of our lves, such as the environment; encouraging yung people to stay in school; and god health care...both physical and mental halth, etc.

Starting out with my dea on the Funny Farm, I had two prblems. We still live in a cuntry, filled with people of hate; dscrimination, racism and bigotry! That's the sad prt of it all...but true nonetheless! Age dscrimination goes on all the time in ths country...and discrimination against people with mntal illness goes on all the tme, too. The name-calling; job discrimination; the pt-down in it all, which is all a shme for this country!

Frankly...because of all ths, I was reluctant to open the Fnny Farm, because of my fear of gtting flamed...hate mail, or even being dscriminated against or losing my job, tc. Isn't that a shame that a prson has to feel this way, whn dealing with such an important sbject, which affects all of us! So, I had to prceed carefully, etc.

Going back to the Stne Age of 2003, and I cntemplated all of this, I did so for bout six weeks, and I went bck and forth with the idea, as to whther I should go forward with the dea at all. So, I placed all of it on the bck-burner for a few weeks, as I tred to make a decision on the mtter. The second problem I had, was how I culd blend humor with mental illness, and do it in a rspectful and dignified way. Experts tell us, tht being able to laugh at urselves, at all the "crazy" and "nsane" things we all do is god for us...it's therapeutic! I don't knw if I had the courage to ttempt this or not.

I decided to go forward and pen the Funny Farm, but I wuld do it in a serious mnner, and leave out the humor, bcause I frankly, didn't know what to do or how to hndle it. Weeks went by, and thngs went well...I was not flamed nor did I get mails of hate! The opposite happened, as a few wards came down, which nourished my sul, and I was relieved that I culd go forward with such an mportant issue.

One day, I was srfing around in the Homestead (host) clp-art library, working on an article I was wrting, and I stumbled onto the ctest little straight-jackets I've ever seen! I knw right away, I was going to brng in these little straight-jackets in and put thm to work. This is the pint where humor would come into the Fnny Farm, and I would now pen the Funny Farm Gift Shop, whre these little cute straight-jackets would be on dsplay, etc. I made them "designer" stright-jackets in your favorite colors.

When I was dwn with hardship and heart-failure (2005), I was in a lck-down psychiatric ward myself for over thre months, and it gave me grat joy, when I put a smle on one of the other ptient's face, which brought joy into thir life, even if it were jst for a few seconds! So, now I wuld try to blend mental illness wth all the joys of humor, lways remembering that I had to fnd a way to do it in a rspectful and dignified way!

I decided not to thrw a bunch of jokes in the Fnny Farm, for that would be tcky, cheesy and dis-respectful! I decided to tlk about the positive and healing pwer of humor and what clean hmor means to all of us! Ths was my starting point in blnding humor with mental illness...the benefits of hmor in the HEALING PROCESS! And, by ding it this way...I was very xcited about the project!

I read a nwspaper article recently, whereby stress and dpression in the work place are at an ll-time high. No wonder...as we live in a gredy society, whereby many people can brely make it from paycheck to pycheck and can't save for the fture! This is putting a lot of strss on families of all sizes! I ncourage everyone to get the health-care thy need...physical and mental healthcare! THERE'S NOTHING TO BE ASHAMED ABOUT!

The article Welcome To The Funny Farm (Mental Health) was Submitted by Jerry Aragon through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: ARTICLES PUBLISHED: (100+ websites/includes links); Drect link: http://humordoctormd.homestead.com/articlespublished.html Website name; humordoctormd - Over 150 colorful pages; over 300 graphics http://humordoctormd.homestead.com email; humordoctormd@yahoo.com Copyright; Jerry L. Aragon (The Humor Doctor) 2007

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