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One who shows signs of mental aberration is, inevitably, perhaps, but cruelly, shut off from familiar, thoughtless intercourse, partly excommunicated; his isolation is unwittingly proclaimed to him on every countenance by curiosity, indifference, aversion, or pity, and in so far as he is human enough to need free and equal communication and feel the lack of it, he suffers pain and loss of a kind and degree which others can only faintly imagine, and for the most part ignore. ~Charles Horton Cooley
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To the cynics, madness will always be a personal failing. Shell shocked soldiers were accused of being malingerers. The "get out of life free pass" is a prelude to just get over it. I have been told more than once, "We do not think you are lazy." My journey to wellness has been fraught with misadventures, sisyphian I suppose.
Coelho was blessed by the visit of the junior doctor. The visit fostered his resolve. I have been blessed by those who treated me. I have not lost my resolve, despite the critics who remind me I could do more if I really wanted to. Then again, I know the strength of my will; and whether I merit the label of malingerer.