WE HEAR THATI just finished reading your article, "Voices Carry" (October 21). Thank you so much for writing about this very important topic. I work with people who hear voices every day. Sometimes, as you mention, these voices can be pleasant but, at other times, they are destructive.
I tell people here at work that we all hear voices. We hear the voice of our father telling us we are wonderful. Sometimes we hear the voice of a friend, telling us to hang in there. Sometimes we hear the voices taunting us or making fun of us in the school yard. Even as I write this, I can remember voices of kids telling me I was a fool in grade school. These were/are damaging voices I still wrestle with.
I have come to believe that spectrum describes best how to look at ourselves regarding many aspects of our mental, spiritual, and emotional lives.
I believe all of us have some kind of racist feelings. We are there somewhere on a spectrum. Same applies to addictions as well mental illness/health. We are neither all good or bad, we are in between these two poles, and where we are on any given day can and does change.
To live in the gray zone is to be human. To embrace this gray zone, I believe, leads to greater amounts of happiness and contentment in our lives.
Your story left me feeling grateful for people, like Dr. Hornstein, who advocate for the gray.
PAUL KEATING
BOSTON
MAJORITY RULES
I truly believe the Occupy protesters are correct in their assessment of our very own government's choosing to bail out multi-billion-dollar banks and Wall Street firms, then allowing the resultant economic fallout to land squarely on the heads of the everyday American.
It is well past time for our government, "Of the People, by the People, and for the People," to live up to the true meaning of the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and the overwhelming will of the overwhelming majority of the American people and make the seemingly difficult, but common-sense decisions that will forge a better and brighter future for all Americans.
TIMOTHY MONROE BLEDSOE
NORTH AUGUSTA, SC
