to write love day

TWLOHAD: Friday 13 November 2009, all over the world!


To Write Love On Her Arms describes its mission:

"To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery."

more:

To Write Love On Her Arms Day is a day where anyone can write the words love on their arms, to support those who are fighting against depression and those who are trying to recovering. On this day, just write love on your arms, and show it off, other people will ask why you have love written on your arms, and you tell them you are supporting to write love on her arms day, and how its benefiting a non profit organization helping stop depression, and make love the movement ♥

"what will this achieve?" It will achieve the goal of people knowing that there are other people out there with the same problem, and/or people who are supporting them with love."

some of my own backstory

The subjects of addiction, self-injury and related are very close to me and to my heart; you could say I've been close to it in various forms most of my life. Biologically and probably environmentally I've inherited some of it.

Compulsive, stereotypical, addictive and similar behaviors frequently seem to defy effective treatment and although there often is an underlying biochemical imbalance or other brain dysfunction that's frequently coupled with negative or sometimes positive psychosocial experiences, the behaviors themselves quickly carve deep, indelible neurological paths.

Bearing in mind this is my theology rather than my (currently semi-inert) testimony blog, the side of my biological family I know something about for generations has been captive to diseases, illnesses – "disorders" – of this type. Despite my dislike of labeling, I know Paul insisted on order, not disorder and Martin Luther says the Church isn't really there without order, in other words, when it is disordered (theology blog, remember).

A huge part of reluctance to reveal, discuss and seek intervention for substance abuse/addiction, compulsivities, self-injury and panic is their seeming uncontrollability and the fact insight usually comes quite easily yet barely makes a dent because of brain pathways that have formed. Whether or not they met clinical DSM criteria, most people have experienced an episode that would make them look depressed, but if you haven't been there, done that, from the outside looking in it looks as if the person with OCD or addiction needs to get a little discipline and control though often they're among the most disciplined, productive and accomplished. In the many creatives who struggle with addictions and compulsions, the creativity and productivity essentially emerge from the same source as the undesired behaviors.

TWLOHAD posters

I've illustrated this blog with one of the pair of posters I designed for this special worldwide TWLOHAD. Amidst a flurry of mostly urban, mostly colorful and coastal beach graffiti the eventful day, the website, the purpose and the promise anchors it all with the hope I describe as "To write love on each other's arms" and now I notice spellcheck doesn't like other's but accepts others and others'±but not to stereotype or label (much), remember, it's urban graffiti!

and now...

"incarnational theology" is one of the labels/tags to this post and in all this my prayer for myself and for each of us – addicted, compulsive, mood-disordered, self-injurious, suicidal, simply creatively different and/or differently creative – is a community of embrace that will celebrate our presence and encourage everyone's full participation and that God will allow all of us to become wounded healers, the divine presence of the crucified and risen Christ we were baptized to be. As I was watching and listening to Patrick Kennedy at Ted Kennedy's funeral, I realized that even for someone in a large, supportive family that also has sufficient resources of every kind, this kind of illness still takes a huge toll and is costly to society and to the individual.

for every one of us to write love on each other's, others or others' arms...♥ ♥ ♥

another version of my design for TWLOHAD 2009: to write love on her arms...