The question has arisen as to whether it's okay to joke about depression. And whether it's okay to laugh at jokes about depression.
I can only answer for myself and here's my official answer.
I grew up in an environment where there was mental illness. I won't go into details about my life or my family on this website, but suffice it to say that I am familiar with mental illness - including depression - in all of its variations.
I have seen it treated, untreated, acknowledged, unacknowledged, treated well and treated poorly.
Anyone who has lived with or around mental illness - or even with short-term, situational depression - knows how devestating it is. Whatever the diagnosis, mental illness disrupts life, relationships, concentration, sleep, food, love, plans, goals, confidence, hopes and dreams.
Anyone who has lived with or around mental illness knows that it is, in fact, depressing. It is a drag and a burden. It brings you down.
But when an individual or a family is able to learn to live successfuly with - or in spite of - mental illness, the lighter side can indeed shine through.
The thing is, there is a lighter side to everything.
And just as with everything, there is a lighter side to mental illness and depression.
In my life, when the burden has been lifted, my friends and family have been lucky enough to see the lighter side and to laugh at it. The laughter has brought us closer and has enabled us to face some of the issues that aren't so much fun.
For the reader who is offended by a look at the lighter side of mental illness or depression, my suggestion is that you look to yourself, not question whether my posting is appropriate.
The reaction you experience speaks to your own journey and that is worth exploring. My own experience with my own comic strips has been all over the map. Some strips make me laugh. Some strips make cry.
Some strips are about my experience and some are about the experiences of the people in my life.
But all of the strips make me feel something and feeling something is liberating. After years of fearing that one little feeling might release a floodgate of emotion that would sink the planet, I now know that one little feeling won't sink the planet.
And no, my little strips won't sink the planet.
But they might help someone, including you and including me, to explore something new and end up in a new and better place before the end of the day.
I hope you explore. And for those of you who might be offended today, I hope there's a day when you're able to laugh. Because with mental illness and depression, there are way too many days when laughing is truly not an option.