Let me see your keys!

[David S. Sharp]

It was more than twenty years ago, that I was sitting in my office on the 14th floor of the "Boston Building" in downtown Salt Lake City. Along with other contractors we were working on a Saturday morning cartoon for Marvel comics animation out of California. We made pretty good money when we were busy working, but much of the time we would wait for contracts or new shows to come in, and animators without something to keep them busy are much like a Mad Hatter's tea party without any tea, or even scones and jam.

One day out of my window I heard shouting from the street below, and looking out my window, I noticed a man in jeans standing in one of the 6 X 6 foot planters in front of the bank screaming and eating pansies from the planter. I called to some of my other studio mates and they came in and took a look down as well. "You don't suppose that's Tom gone stark raving mad down there?," someone said. Tom was the latest animator in the studio to go through a seperation, probably something to do with the dicey living we all made. "No," said I, "we would have noticed something before now." The police came and the man calmly gave himself up to custody. Funding cuts of the time had turned many of the mentally ill and handicapped out on the street, and many were not being properly cared for.

Many years later, I had among my musician friends some that were LCSW's (licensed clincal social workers) that worked for what is called Valley Mental Health in our area. They would ask many of us to come once a month, on a week night to play for dances for the patients at the treatment center. I learned to call dances for them and found them to be very willing to participate in group activities. Many of them dance and listen to directions as well as their counterparts in society. Only one unsettling thing happened during several years of donating our time. My wife would also come and play the Hammered Dulcimer at the dances, and on one occasion between dances a young man came over to talk to my wife. He said "Do you want to know how to say, I'm going to kill you in Swedish". Having heard that I was over there like a shot, fearing the worst. My wife knew what to say, "I'd rather know how to say I love you". He rattled it off like no big deal and that was that. Later my social worker friend said, "often they hear a lot of those types of things from innner voices, and that actually very few of the mentally ill are dangerous to others, mostly to themselves. Most of the people committing violent crimes are sociopaths actually." As they would get on the bus, a Guitar playing friend of mine would ask me, "Let me see your keys!, " I said, "Oh stop it", and he said, "well you have to get on the bus then." He had noticed that none of them have keys, since they don't own cars, homes, safety deposit boxes or anything else that would require a key.

I found it rewarding to work with them, and I had a good deal of empathy for them, since my mentally retarded brother was greatly misunderstood by the neighbors and other kids when I was a child. (Several of the neighbors believed we were cursed by God, so when they would grab their children and haul them inside, I would stagger around with one bulging eye and my hand in a claw mewling all the while just to prove them right. I had other friends.) So it wasn't a great leap for me to realize that this was very similar. I would see many of these people I called dances for out in society later, as their medication would stabilize them, they grew to have a great appreciation for music and stories. I would see them in our audiences even though I didn't know their names. Music and stories gave them a bit of focus on normal activities, appreciation and quality of life. Many of them now have a number of keys on their ring, and I'm glad I still have mine just in case I need to show them to someone.

Dave Sharp
Glastonbury duo

[David S. Sharp]

Thanks Rivka, I agree with everything you said. Friends are important, my sister and I grew up with friends in our neigbhorhood that came from every religion and background. The people that were prejudice also came from every religion and background. Bigotry was something there parents taught them. My brother was mentally handicapped from Rubela that my mother caught during her term wtih him. In those days the medical profession had not made the connection yet. My wife and family, along with many of the musician's, artists, storytellers and theatre people in the community are our friends and we're gratefull for them.

Thanks again,

Dave Sharp

[Rivka Willick]

Years ago, when I lived in Atlanta, my next door neighbor suffered post partum psychosis. She had lived in the community for many years, giving freely of herself to anyone who needed help. She was active in many organizations and was everyone' friend, UNTIL THE POST PARTEM PSYCHOSIS. After her illness, she was forgotten. No one visited. No one helped. Her friends disappeared, she disappeared from their thoughts. Some said she was scary. "It was scary to think this could happen to a normal person. She recovered, and slowly some of her friends returned. In time my neighbor and her family left the community.
Her name came up once, and some one said ..."people like that need professionals." Thank goodness for our professionals, but people, all people, really need friends.

Dave, I hope you keep telling your stories.
Rivka

[David S. Sharp]

Hi Mimi
Two of my closet friends work as LCSW's for what was then ARTU (Adult Residential Treatment Unit) now Valley Mental Health. One currently plays in our group and the other was a member at one time.

My mother was instrumental in getting the medieval treatment for the handicap improved in our state. No more chaining retarded children and adults to the wall. Or rooms filled with sick unattended children. They used to pull all the teeth of children at the state training school my brother went to, if they bit someone and sometimes they would die from shock. The attendants of the time were football players from the local college, because it was thought that they served best against incredibly strong hyperactive children and adults. The result was often the child or adult in question would get hospitalized by a frantic football player looking to keep from getting bit. Now days they have qualified trained personel the place is more benevolent. My Mother had buildings and facilities there named after her, she started out by getting the Presidency of the parents board. From there she built many for profit and non-profit companies to assist in care for the handicapped. She pioneered the group home concept for handicapped residencies and fought in court the neighborhoods that held prejudice against the group home coming to their neighborhood. The mentally retarded are gentle non-violent people as well, and with proper medication also lead better lives. My Mom worked all her life to change the nature of the handicapped in our state with many of the states only Democrates on her board. She was on the Utah Govenors advisory board on the handicapped and she formed many coalitions with advocates for the Mentally ill and the Physically handicapped. The companies she built, turned over the ownership of all the group homes in the State to a contractor that she deemed fit to recieve them, and they run and staff the group homes to this day.

Thanks again,

Dave Sharp

[Mimi Rockwell]

Hi Dave, I'm one of those LCSW's you spoke of in your story, albeit retired since 1999. And I say "Amen!" to your story--mental illness still carries a stigma that years of educational efforts never seem to eradicate. Eight years of working in a mental health center taught me that most schizophrenics are gentle non-violent people, most of those with Bi-Polar disorder have wild mood and behavior swings, and most everyone else I counseled just had exaggerated versions of what most of us think and feel. On the correct medication, most can function quite well in work and relationships. Thanks for your story--I really like the observation about the power of the keys. Mimi R.

[Dianne de Las Casas, Author, Award-Winning Storyteller]

Dave:

What a fantastic story! You are truly working your "calling" in life. I will never look at my keys the same way again. Thank you for unlocking such profound wisdom for all of us.

Warmly,
Dianne