Fighting the Stigma

This is for the insomniacs
whose minds are anxious, tired,
and sick
and for the girls who put razors
to their wrists
because it's the only way they can cope
and for the boys who starve in silence
ignored and oppressed
because "boys don't get eating disorders".
This is for the weary,
for the straight-A students
who work too hard and have bags under their eyes,
for the kids whose innocence
was killed at the age of three,
for the boy to afraid too tell the truth,
and for the girl who no longer knows what the truth is.
This is for the depressed,
who cannot see a way out of the hole that they live in.
This is for the people who cry into their pillows night after night
and for the people who hide from the world in alcohol or drugs
and for the people who hyperventilate in the nearest bathroom
and for the people who twitch
and for the people who cannot control their compulsive behaviors
and for the people who are helpless and hopeless and alone.
And this is for the people fighting the stigma of mental illnesses,
who know that they are not
the school shooters
the suicidal freaks
the people that should be locked up and monitored for the rest of their lives.
Who know that they are just people
with a chemical imbalance in their brains.
Who know that mental illnesses can happen to anybody
and who want that to be treatable
and never
ever
EVER
a source of shame
or humiliation.
This is for the sick and the sad,
the weak and the weary,
the lonely and the lost.
This is for the people who are not their diagnoses.
This is for the people.
Because they are just people.