Collective Musings
Smooth and round between my lips
Gripped tightly with two long fingers
You are my biggest vice
I am a cat slinking toward her cream
Pawning my soul for just one more taste
You bind me
I slowly inhale and bring you down to the line
My fingers let go
And drop you to the ground
As I light another
For the first time, I saw someone badmouth TWLOHA. (In case you haven’t heard of them, TWLOHA — To Write Love On Her Arms — is a charity devoted to helping people struggling with depression, self-injury and addiction.) In a thread on Absolute Punk announcing Renee Yohe’s book Purpose for the Pain, someone said
This ‘charity’ doesn’t make sense to me.
and someone else said
as sketchy charities go, I think this one is way up there and I don’t feel the need to support anything that they do. if the girl wants to write a book then fair play to her, she’s got an easy route to do so and a ready made audience. the poetry section looks dire though.
I’m not sure how TWLOHA doesn’t make sense, nor am I sure how they are sketchy. I’ve seen sketchy “non-profit organizations” (namely on MySpace), and they don’t do any sort of public speaking or any other kind of activity. The people at TWLOHA write blogs, talk to real people, attend concerts and speak in front of the audiences about depression/self-injury/addiction, sell merchandise and donate the money made to different charities, run internships, educate people about not only depression/self-injury/addiction but also other things (such as the crises in Uganda, other non-profits that are making a difference, and are currently campaigning to save 1-800-SUICIDE.
Now tell me, how does any of that sound “sketchy”?
Maybe I’m biased, because I’ve struggled with depression and self-injury, and I know people dear to me who have struggled with addiction (and lost the battle). Maybe these experiences make me blind, and my blind self is contributing to the scam that is TWLOHA. I don’t believe this at all. I haven’t seen or heard anything to make me question the people at TWLOHA and their intentions. I haven’t doubted for one second their passion for this cause. It makes me so angry to see people say such slanderous, stupid things. Maybe it’s because they’ve never experienced the pain of depression. Maybe they are some of the lucky ones out there who have never wanted to take their own lives. Maybe they think that people who cut themselves with deadly-sharp knives and burn themselves with cigarettes and lighters are just looking for attention. (Because hurting myself like that is gonna make me so fucking cool, right?) Maybe they think that this is a fad that’s gonna pass.
Depression, self-injury and addiction are not fads. I have seen first-hand, through myself and people I love, what these three things can do to your life. I have known the pain of self-hatred. I’ve lost a friend to addiction. I’ve almost lost family members to addiction. I’ve almost lost a best friend to depression. I’ve seen boyfriends become addicted to alcohol and several drugs. I’ve seen and heard so much about lives being destroyed. Every day I read posts on Letters of Love, and read letters and emails about depression. These are real feelings. You will never know what it is like until you are already there, and by then it’s too late. I am so sick of people judging other people. I am so sick of people who are depressed being put down by those squeaky clean members of society who think they are above everyone else. Of course they don’t “get” TWLOHA. Why would they?
These lyrics from the Flobots song “Stand Up” remind me of what we fight for.
Stand up, we shall not be moved
Except by a child with no socks or shoes
If you’ve got more to give than you’ve got to prove
Put your hands up and I’ll copy you
TWLOHA is mainly about helping people, about reaching out. This charity is the whole reason I started Letters of Love. It’s about reaching out to others and being there to listen. It’s not about fame or glory, or a fad. It’s not about attention. It’s about real people, with real feelings. I know; I’ve been there.
So when I see these comments, like
Eh. Anything having to do with TWLOHA makes me a little wary, to be honest.
or
This “charity” is pretty weird.. I think I read that only 10% (Maybe it was 25%, but still) makes it to actual hotlines and other resources… The rest of it goes to you know, expenses… like their house. and their bungalow. and their trips to the UK so they can spend 5 minutes reading a poem before Switchfoot goes on. It just seems ridiculous to me that everyone buys into it. And the fact that some of the money goes to faith-based charities irks me too.
I just have to laugh. If you don’t get it now, you never will.
We shall not be moved.
