Regret; An Open Topic

[cacophonesque]

Four months. One third of a year. One-hundred eighteen days since my father went to sleep and didn't wake up again. Two-thousand eight-hundred thirty-two hours since my dad ended a twenty-one year battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and shuffled off this mortal coil for destinations unknown. One-hundred sixty-nine thousand nine-

Comments

[team_jessie]

This is beautiful, and heartbreaking, and wonderfully written

[cacophonesque]

Thank you. It's been sitting in me for a while now, needing to come out

[team_jessie]

The institutional and mental health system was a right mess, as I'm sure you know. Last season, I got a chance to write about my relative unease at turning Eastern State Penitentiary into a Halloween theme park, but then they turned around and did the same thing toPennhurst Asylum.

I'm glad that the historic sites are being preserved, but not sure what's supposed to be so damn scary about woefully misunderstood people, and the wretched conditions they were kept in. :-/

[cacophonesque]

My grandmother was at the Pennsylvania School for Feeble-Minded Children, which is still in operation today as Elwyn. From what I've been able to gather it's not so bad in its modern incarnation--but it has a pretty troubling history, including having been the only place in PA to perform 270 sterilizations for essentially eugenics reasons.

[team_jessie]

Wow, I know exactly where Elwyn is! It's maybe a 40 minute drive from where I live right now, and the hospital where I had both kids is right around the corner. It is known as an excellent facility now, but I didn't know about its history. I'll have to research it now, because that's fascinating.

[cacophonesque]

Ultimately it was just engaging in practices that were considered acceptable for its time. Although that doesn't diminish the horror I feel--nor how sad it makes me to think of my grandmother living in such a place.