Man Commits Suicide at DLH

[Morrigoon]

Originally Posted by Motorboat Cruiser

An illness, plain and simple.

Weakness, IMHO, implies a fault, a flaw, and ultimately ... blame. And I don't think that someone who is mentally ill is at fault or to blame. Yes, they lack the tools necessary for rational thought, and in that respect, I suppose that I could semantics-wise see your reasoning. And yet, it is precisely that lack of rational thought that makes cringe at the word "weak."

See, our problem is one of definitions. I view something as a weakness but accept it on those terms. Weakness does not require the assignation of blame in my book, it just is what it is. If something makes life more difficult, it's a weakness, as it robs you of resources (mental, emotional, physical) that you would otherwise allocate towards your goals.

But if you have a weakness, that doesn't mean you're to blame for it. If someone is born with a bad lisp and they dream of becoming a news anchor, guess what, it's a weakness. Maybe not an insurmountable one, but it means they are going to have to allocate extra personal resources toward the goal just to make them equal to their competition.

Being able to identify and accept your weaknesses is how you equip yourself to overcoming them.

But again, I think we're using a different definition of weakness. I view weaknesses as something you accept for what they are, without passing judgment on their origin.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Originally Posted by Morrigoon

See, our problem is one of definitions. I view something as a weakness but accept it on those terms. Weakness does not require the assignation of blame in my book, it just is what it is. If something makes life more difficult, it's a weakness, as it robs you of resources (mental, emotional, physical) that you would otherwise allocate towards your goals.

But if you have a weakness, that doesn't mean you're to blame for it. If someone is born with a bad lisp and they dream of becoming a news anchor, guess what, it's a weakness. Maybe not an insurmountable one, but it means they are going to have to allocate extra personal resources toward the goal just to make them equal to their competition.

Being able to identify and accept your weaknesses is how you equip yourself to overcoming them.

But again, I think we're using a different definition of weakness. I view weaknesses as something you accept for what they are, without passing judgment on their origin.

But I think that there is judgment being passed here, although perhaps not intentionally. You have written that you see weakness as the opposite of strength. I think most people would deem strength to be an admirable quality, wouldn't you? And in that regard, it stands to reason that weakness isn't something that is neutral. It is undesirable, and what seems to be implied in some of these posts is that, if only people tried harder, they could fix this undesirable defect.

You can make yourself stronger but you can't really make yourself not have a mental illness. And not only can you not usually combat it on your own - in many cases, you don't even recognize that it exists. With a lisp, at least the problem is staring you in the face and you can make rational decisions on how best to remedy it. With mental illness, often you are fooled into thinking that you aren't the problem - it is the rest of the world that has turned upside-down. Rational decisions don’t even come into play. So, how do you "equip yourself to overcome that?"