Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Policemen, Priests and Psych Wards

I've been thinking a lot about policemen and schizophrenics. Or rather, policemen and mental illness. This is partially because of the family in the book Beach Music. Add to that my recent reading of I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb and my current subway reading, Spiritual Survival for Law Enforcement by Cary A. Friedman, and you see the thought process.

Policemen, the mentally ill and clergy all have something in common. It has to do with safety, which is the same as grace, and whether they possess that safety and if so, whether they can gift it to others. Policemen keep us safe. The mentally ill (especially paranoid schizophrenics) rarely feel safe. And clergy know that we are not safe but give safety to others even so.

1 comment:

therapydoc said...

Ooh, I read that book, Spiritual Survival for Law Enforcement. A goodie!