Beyond Stigma

We each may have our stigmas.  It may be the environment, or be derived from personal experience.  Maybe we're uncomfortable with those that are gay.  May we shy away from those with mental illnesses.  Maybe we hate people of color.  It's good to recognize where we stigmatize, where we are biased or judge.  The goal isn't to hate ourselves for our prejudices, but the goal is to grow in a compassion for others and to let God accomplish his work in both us and our outlook on others.

I work as a mental health counselor with those given various diagnoses of mental illnesses.  I don't want to judge them, or even prescribe a set course of therapy for them, just because of their diagnosis.  I want to see them as individual, as unique, as having their own precious and special gift to offer the world.  I want to love the whole individual, not the person with the diagnosis.  I feel we hear certain diagnoses and become squeamish, or immediately prescribe a bleak prognosis.  What is those with disorders were not looked down upon, or thought of as a drain on society, but as each able to encounter God in their unique way, in a way that I cannot.  If thought about in this way, a diagnosis becomes just another label, much less a life sentence.

We need to not live our lives in reaction.  I feel sometimes we know much more what we are against than what we are for.  Being for love is the only way we truly know that we are ok in being against evil.  God is for us, using even our flaws to bring himself glory and to teach us greater dependence on him.

It can help to pay attention to our thoughts and reactions when encountering others.  What people group are my hotspots?  Gays? The disabled?  Those on welfare?  What are my immediate reactions when I see these people, or hear of them in conversation.  Starting to pay attention to this can open us up to the possibility of grace in our shortcomings.  We can invite God into the dialogue, asking for his opinion to be made known.  We need not fear awareness.  On the contrary, we can ask the Holy Spirit to aid us in resting in a compassion where we can let go more and more of our prejudices, learning to love others and ourselves at a deeper level.