Pitza♥Summer

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Of Madness and Insanity

Completed a non-fiction novel within 3 days. My mom commented that it shows how bored I am. That's only partially true though, since I've planned to embark on numerous projects but have not made any progress. Those need immense creativity you see and I'm not feeling very innovative these couple of days.

Back from the digression, this book by Torey Hayden is mainly about this innocuous 6-year-old, Sheila, who was placed in a special class because she set fire to a 3-year-old tied to a tree. Torey was a teacher of this special class. All her students have gone through severe traumas that affected their behaviours. Peter, a boy who spoke tactlessly, unfortunately reminds me of a classmate.(hehehe...) Sheila was incooperative initially; She used a pencil to gorge out the eyes of the class's pet goldfishes as well as trampled on the pet gerbils. Yet, Torey managed to tame her, like what Little Prince did to the fox and discovered her incredibly high IQ. As a child, Sheila faced abandonement, condemnation as welll as sexual abuse. Torey made her see through her bitterness and hatred and saved her from ending up in the state hospital---meant for mental patients.

But what exactly constitutes normality? Does conforming to what everyone thinks make you a sane and normal person? Is autism another state of mind or is it plain mental disorder? Was Vincent Van Gough suffering from depression when he chopped off his ear? I sure don't know what is normal since it's so intangible.

Love, Pitza 18.1.07

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