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Welcome to the Leadership21 blog, an ongoing conversation on mental health, civil rights and social justice. Posting on the blog are twelve young mental health advocates who comprise the L21 commitee, and anything goes--the personal, the political, the cultural, whatever! We hope that you'll check out what's here, and make some comments, and please know that if you're concerned about anonymity, you can comment anonymously. We hope that what you read, and what you contribute, will make you want to return regularly, because to our knowledge, there really isn't anything out there that has the potential to engage people on so many levels about mental health. But we need "outsiders" like you to make it grow into a robust, contagious online blog. So thanks for coming, welcome to the conversation, and please, pass it on--L21

Monday, July 16, 2007

tolerance???

Posted by Lucy

Today I heard from a man with mental illness who is going to be evicted from his apartment due to complaints from an AA group that rents the lobby for meetings. They say he heckles them, “harasses” them by following them around after meetings and asking questions, etc. If the judge believes these guys my guy will be out on the street and will really suffer. The AA people go home and likely forget his words within a few minutes.

This got me thinking about tolerance – why is it that the members of an AA group specifically would target this guy? Why were the other residents tolerant of this guy’s ways of being but not this group? Is there something about pulling yourself up or out of a bad place that makes you more likely to throw a stone? ICK!

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