The human brain is miraculous. Its ability to absorb such large quantities of information and follow complex patterns of thought is outstandingly impressive.However, a large piece of what makes the mind such a beautiful place is that each one is different from the other. While some among us may not be equally matched in ability, it is important to remember that each and every person has a beautiful mind.
The mind is full of memories. Memories of places and people and feelings and things that collectively create a story of that person’s life. The concept of a “mental illness” revolves around a person's inability to recall those memories and relay them to others. It is essentially a communication barrier that labels them as,”sick”. Whether that memory deals with events that happened long ago, or the memory that deals with what is “socially acceptable”, or the memory that deals with what is real and what is fiction, the only difference between those who are deemed “normal” and those who are deemed “ill” is their ability to locate that missing memory. While one may not be able to recall them as easily, it is my belief that those whose mind’s have lost a memory of any kind are no less beautiful. Their mind simply operates in a different manner.
My own grandfather has been labeled as one of the “ill” though I do not see him this way at all. To me, he is one of the most intelligent and acute people that I have ever known. However, time has not been kind to him, and eventually, they say that is will take away his ability to pick out even the most recent memories. They say that there will come a day when he may no longer be able to pull out the memories of me, his very first grandchild. But this is no matter, for as long as he is alive, the integrity of his mind is still present because I know what it is capable of, and I know that somewhere inside, it is still the same beautiful mind that taught me to ride a bike and introduced me to some of the most intriguing books I have ever read. He and every other person that have been labeled one of the “mentally ill” still belong to one of the most sophisticatedly complex species on the planet, and therefore, on the inside, each and every one is still beautiful.