A sprinkling of mushrooms

So, the roofing signs are popping up all over Harker Heights like fairy mushrooms in little clumps after the rain. The signs are in clusters arranged by business; "Action roofing," "Colt," "Texas Star Roofing," "Navarro," and so on.

One hail storm and every other house in the neighborhood suddenly needs a new roof. 

I imagine this happens every eight to ten years. Well, the hail storms probably occur with more regularity, but it seems that the age of roofs in this area is pretty much on the same schedule. Another group of homes must be on a different schedule. Perhaps they will hit the next storm a year or so from now, and another crop of roofers will be out scouring the neighborhood for severe hail damage.

What surprises me is the supreme coordination between roofers and insurance assessors! The process is short and goes without a hitch. First the roofer appears, patrolling the neighborhood in search of a home owner in need. He/she scales a ladder to the roof, makes certain that there is evidence of "a bad hit" from the storm, then walks the yard to find out what else will fall under storm damage to help make paying the deductible worth it.

Example: "Those solar lights (smashed to pieces over seven or eight years of neglect) were broken in the storm, right?"
"Well, I have to be honest, no, they are just junk."
"You let me do the assessing young lady." Big grin!
"The shed door panel, storm?"
"uuuuhhhh..."
"Yup, as I thought, " (adds to list).
"Oh wow, your hot tub cover....that took some abuse!"
"oh my!"
"Don't worry, they'll pay you!"

..."and power wash you fence, some paint, my Goodness it got chipped up with all that hail. The garage doors, I see some hefty denting. Check out your gutters...you'll need all of those replaced, and all those screens on the South and West sides of your house.....let me take a look around some more...no worries!"

My home is one of the mushrooms.
It has sprouted a roofing sign.
I am picking a color this week.The only thing in question is the price.
To be continued.......

One HAIL of a storm!

We had the most enormous hail storm here in Central Texas about two weeks ago. It was violent, exciting, a little frightening, and an absolute wonder to watch!
I sat on the back porch watching huge grey clouds roll in from the west, faster than most storms. It was warm but the moment the first drops of rain hit the deck, the temperature dropped suddenly. I had planned to wait on the deck and watch for as long as possible, but this was no regular storm. Hell, these were not even regular rain drops! Each one was like a mini paint can chucked from the sky at a 45 degree angle. 
So, I ducked behind my screen door, left it open and watched from the relative safety of our back room and first miniature hail, then acorn sized hail, and then hail the size of golf balls pounded the deck, bouncing everywhere.
Oh shit! My car is in the driveway. I paid it off one month ago!
Christ, someone is throwing rocks at the windows! The storm is coming inside. This is exhilarating! What the fuck am I saying? This is bullshit! My house is about to be hammered to pieces and a tornado is probably on the way! 
The kids are at school. Oh God, not in the portables, I hope.Time check. Not time for the buses yet. If this shit is still on at 4 o'clock they had better hold the buses. 
Holy shit! Look at the pool. It is being shelled from Ft. Hood. Yep, they are definitely shelling the pool. Four foot splashes, non stop. Why the fuck did I fill it yesterday? This always happens. Man, but that is cool looking..get the phone, take a video...yeah, that's nice and fuzzy, Crap...just watch!!
So I had a pretty good time. It ended before school got out, I found our fence down and two small trees down, and figured, oh well, Texas weather, crapped on us again, but at least we don't live in Tornado alley! 
Then I get the call. A roofer in on his way. For what? To check the damage.
O-kaaaaaaaaaaaay.
I was wary. To say the least. I still see a roof.
He came, He examined, he walked the yard. He discussed deductibles. He discussed a new roof. He made an appointment to come back with a USAA assessor.
I decided not to get too excited....
To be continued........

Mentally ill does not equal evil.

Discussions take place in various forums about why people commit acts of violence in public places and whether on not these people are evil. Often the discussion revolves not only around whether or not the offender is evil, but whether they are evil or mentally ill.

It seems to me that too many people associate mental illness and the negative and tragic impulses which come packages with some, but not all mental illness, with evil. 

How then, is a mentally ill person supposed to feel or supposed to connect with others in society, when they know that so many already associate them with such an awful thing.

In reality, mental illness has no connection with evil. Neither do the acts of violence which a few mentally ill people commit. These people are sick and they have lost their battle with whatever disease they were fighting. Perhaps they were never treated. Perhaps they were treated but the treatment was not adequate. Perhaps the illness was not treatable. Mostly, they simply were not treated at all, or were not taking medication or seeing a psychiatrist, or even talking to someone about the disturbing thoughts which plagued them.

Mental illness is isolating, frightening, and sad. Mental illness does not often end in violence against others. Most suffer alone. Many hurt themselves. Some are violent. None, are evil.

I cannot give the magic answer as to how to help the many who suffer in silence. I do, however, think that it would be helpful to distinguish sickness from evil.

I think that it would be helpful to associate sickness of the mind with the same empathy we feel for sickness of the body. The pain is equal, and the results are as devastating.

I do think that it would help to not assign blame to those who suffer with mental illness. We do not blame those who suffer from cancer, heart disease, a broken limb, deafness, or kidney failure. When a person's brain and neural pathways fail them, is it their fault?

I do think it would help if family members would be as vigilant as possible to help notice signs of trouble in children, spouses, parents, and strongly encourage them to seek help, or get them help if they are too sad, too aggressive, too troubled to seek it for themselves. We take care of our families. Right? We do not ignore their pain even though it does not present in the form of a gaping, bloody wound.

Teachers, co-workers, friends and caregivers can look out for the signs also.
No, the signs are not always obvious, but if we all take the time and trouble to investigate signs of mental illness, they will become more apparent to us.

We can all, as a society, help prevent acts of violence. We do not have to like the attacker. We do not have to assume that every attacker is a great person who simply suffers from troubled thoughts. But we do need to get away from the idea that those who commit acts of violence are always evil and unworthy.

That person has a family. That person is worthy of love. That person's life went very wrong somewhere. Those who lived with them do love them. It is possible that their illness can still be treated. Maybe they need to be confined because they have now committed a crime, but maybe they need to be treated. Maybe their future quality of life is important if we can look past our fury and pain. I would not ask a victim of the crime to look past this, but society can be more forgiving if we judge a person to be mentally ill.
Not evil.