Writing and Photography by Jeff E. Brown

Lunatics, madmen, crazies. Pejoratives thrown around to denigrate people we think don’t deserve dignity or respect, much less a cursory attempt at understanding. I’ve known so many who have been slammed by these words and much worse, but they persevere through the insults and the misfiring neurons in their brains. They fight to live another day in a world where they’re unwelcome.

Why do we think that because we conform and behave in accordance with a vague standard of normalcy that anyone who deviates from that is broken? We ought to open our hearts, these miraculous pathways to love and understanding, to enable us to realize that the person hearing voices may just need to hear a welcoming one: ours.

© 2022 Jeff E. Brown. All rights reserved