Today's Opinions

May is Mental Health Month. Many individuals and families have experienced or will experience a mental health issue at some point in life.

Many people who experience mental disorders are able to have relative normal lives with their families and careers provided they are properly diagnosed and receive appropriate treatment.

However, the stigma associated with mental illness continues to exist without any treatment of its own.

I am 95 years old and I objected strongly when I became a resident of White Oak Manor. My first thinking was this was a place to die in.

But that is not so. It is really a place where love and care are abundant. South Carolina provides good medical care for its senior citizens. And I am a “damn Yankee” from Buffalo, N.Y.

Mother’s Day was a special day here. I had breakfast in bed. Then families came to visit. The parking lot was overflowing. At lunch, the main dining room was crowded, with sons, daughters, grandchildren and friends.

Our kayaks round a bend in the Catawba River – and we see it. A flashing streak hitting the water, a splash and then the powerful wings coming into focus as they pull the bald eagle up with a squirming snake in its talons.

We all sit there stunned for a moment. Then, we’re all talking at once, amazed at what we’ve just seen only a few miles from where we live and work.

My children run back down the trail to me, chattering, “Mom, it’s so big!”