Crazy by Pete Earley

I still read.  Not as much as I would like.  While Uncle was in the hospital I received the book, Crazy by Pete Earley.  This is one of the best books I have read all year.  It is the BEST book about mental illness I have ever read.  Pete Earley's son starts acting odd after college graduation.  He is eventually diagnosed as being bi-polar.  He is arrested and charged with a felony.  Clearly, he was not in his right mind when he broke into an empty house.  He did nothing to hurt the owners.  Yet, it changed his life.  It made his father, Pete, start looking at mental illness and our prisons.
I wish every politician, health provider, police officer, would read this book.  It is eye opening how the mentally ill in our country are treated.  I thought I had an idea after being told by the State Facility that they drop mentally ill off in homeless shelters if they do not have anywhere else to go.  How could someone that is mentally ill stay healthy without assistance.  How would they get their medicine, take their medicine, eat meals, get sleep, stay warm or cool, be safe.  After reading Crazy, it is more than shocking how mentally ill are treated.
So often the outside world frightens my son.  He hides in his solitude.  Stays in the basement where he feels safe.  The medicine makes him feel cold.  He wears warm clothing even in the summer.  He can sleep for hours and hours.  He does not trust many people.  His medication can be near impossible to figure out.  I have to sit and concentrate, reading each bottle carefully, to fill his container each week.  Someone that is ill could not possibly keep medication straight.  Let alone, take it when needed.  Before his last hospitalization my son was taking 6 medications a day, a total of 15 pills, 4 times a day.  It is a daunting task to keep them straight.  To get him to take the medicine.  To remind him to eat.  No one as sick as my son could do that on his own.  If he was homeless, he would be in and out of the hospital constantly.  He would end up in jail quickly. 
Our country has to start caring for the mentally ill.  If you think, why is it my responsibility?  I will answer that if the mentally ill are not cared for everyone pays the price.  Your tax money will certainly go towards housing them in prisons.  I have insurance on my son.  Even with insurance, there is not a place for him to live.  He will never live on his own.  He needs to be in a center where they can help him lead a more productive life.  Make sure he is safe.  Get him involved in things.  We are not trained to give him the best life possible. I cannot accept that this is the life he is destined to have.
What I am asking of you is to put a face to mental illness.  Remember Joel.  Know that we do everything in our power to help him and it is not enough.  Read the book, Crazy.  Be ambassadors for mental illness. 
Now I will step back off my soap box.