Cards For The Depressed
According to the National Insititute of Menatal Health, one in four adult Americans has a mental illness (including all of the types of depression). This comes to about 57.7 million people. That’s a big market. It’s a wonder that Hallmark and other 1999 greeting card companies haven’t got in on this action.
The US Government won’t bail out the health care industry, so maybe they can at least send all of us who are mentally ill a greeting card whenever we try to kill ourselves.
Suicide Ettiquette
Two weeks ago, my Mom’s friend tried to commit sucide by taking a lot of pills and then wanted to jump off a roof. She’s doing much better now. But Mom got these strange phone calls from her other friends asking if they should send get-well cards to the friend who tried to commit suicide.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Mom told them. “Perhaps you should call her instead.”
After Mom told me about this conversation, it’s been going over and over in my head. Would “glad you messed up your suicide” cards be that bad of an idea? Please bear in mind that practically everyone in my family has tried to kill themselves at one point or another and I’ve tried to kill myself so many times, I’ve lost count. Would I have really minded getting a get well card after yet another suicide attempt?
Yeah, I probably would … at first. Then, knowing me, I’d get a really good laugh out of it.
Do They Exist?
If you enter any random words in Google or Yahoo!, you can usually find several thousand links on it. And through the magic of the Internet, there are greeting cards for the depressed, as long as you keep your tongue firmly in your cheek. Here are some links I’ve discovered. Enjoy.
- Cafe Press: Maniacally Depressed Greeting Card Share the love.
- DGreetings.com Has several designs to choose from.
- Zazzle in the UK Has T-shirts and coffe mugs, too. Why should American depressives have all of the fun?
- Depression Card Does what it says on the tin.
- Just be sure you use your cards for the depressed in order to cheer someone up, not as templates for suicide notes, as happened to Moshe Pergament. That wouldn’t be too polite.
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:11 am
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