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I've been in the humor b siness for over 50 years, so wh n I built my website, I kn w there would be plenty of h mor. But, I wanted more than th t! I wanted to address other mportant issues in all of our l ves, such as the environment; encouraging y ung people to stay in school; and g od health care...both physical and mental h alth, etc. Starting out with my dea on the Funny Farm, I had two pr blems. We still live in a c untry, filled with people of hate; d scrimination, racism and bigotry! That's the sad p rt of it all...but true nonetheless! Age d scrimination goes on all the time in th s country...and discrimination against people with m ntal illness goes on all the t me, too. The name-calling; job discrimination; the p t-down in it all, which is all a sh me for this country! Frankly...because of all th s, I was reluctant to open the F nny Farm, because of my fear of g tting flamed...hate mail, or even being d scriminated against or losing my job, tc. Isn't that a shame that a p rson has to feel this way, wh n dealing with such an important s bject, which affects all of us! So, I had to pr ceed carefully, etc. Going back to the St ne Age of 2003, and I c ntemplated all of this, I did so for bout six weeks, and I went b ck and forth with the idea, as to wh ther I should go forward with the dea at all. So, I placed all of it on the b ck-burner for a few weeks, as I tr ed to make a decision on the m tter. The second problem I had, was how I c uld blend humor with mental illness, and do it in a r spectful and dignified way. Experts tell us, th t being able to laugh at urselves, at all the "crazy" and " nsane" things we all do is g od for us...it's therapeutic! I don't kn w if I had the courage to ttempt this or not.
I decided to go forward and pen the Funny Farm, but I w uld do it in a serious m nner, and leave out the humor, b cause I frankly, didn't know what to do or how to h ndle it. Weeks went by, and th ngs 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 s ul, and I was relieved that I c uld go forward with such an mportant issue. One day, I was s rfing around in the Homestead (host) cl p-art library, working on an article I was wr ting, and I stumbled onto the c test little straight-jackets I've ever seen! I kn w right away, I was going to br ng in these little straight-jackets in and put th m to work. This is the p int where humor would come into the F nny Farm, and I would now pen the Funny Farm Gift Shop, wh re these little cute straight-jackets would be on d splay, etc. I made them "designer" str ight-jackets in your favorite colors. When I was d wn with hardship and heart-failure (2005), I was in a l ck-down psychiatric ward myself for over thr e months, and it gave me gr at joy, when I put a sm le on one of the other p tient's face, which brought joy into th ir life, even if it were j st for a few seconds! So, now I w uld try to blend mental illness w th all the joys of humor, lways remembering that I had to f nd a way to do it in a r spectful and dignified way! I decided not to thr w a bunch of jokes in the F nny Farm, for that would be t cky, cheesy and dis-respectful! I decided to t lk about the positive and healing p wer of humor and what clean h mor means to all of us! Th s was my starting point in bl nding humor with mental illness...the benefits of h mor in the HEALING PROCESS! And, by d ing it this way...I was very xcited about the project! I read a n wspaper article recently, whereby stress and d pression in the work place are at an ll-time high. No wonder...as we live in a gr edy society, whereby many people can b rely make it from paycheck to p ycheck and can't save for the f ture! This is putting a lot of str ss on families of all sizes! I ncourage everyone to get the health-care th y 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); D rect 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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