My Disillusionment With the Left- Part 1

Tags

anxiety, Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, books, crime, Karl Marx, police, Politics, vigilantes

Nice guy probably but his theory is unworkable.

First of all, I like to thank you, my readers, for comments and all the likes on my post, “I Need Motivation to Write.” That has given me the kick start I needed and once again, I have been putting pen to paper and the feeling has been rewarding. Now for the not so good side. As usual, my Asperger’s type mind has been throwing in the what ifs and while I am determined to finish my third novel by the end of this year, there are anxieties creeping into my mind, which I fear will hinder me in completing said novel.

To bring you all up to speed, the new novel I am working on will be called “The V- Network.” It’s about a group of people who are individually let down by the British justice system who go on to form a vigilante group. The let downs come in many forms. Some of them are police who go charging in and arrest the intended victim of the crime or in some cases do not do their jobs properly. In other cases, it’s down to shifty lawyers and ‘right on’ judges. However, one thing I don’t do is somehow portray the let downs in the legal system are down to those in the system being lefty, bleeding heart liberals and that’s where my anxieties come from.

The big misconception many people have about rising crime rates is that it’s all down to do-gooders and liberal attitudes. While these attitudes do play a part in the causes of crimes in the form of things like lenient sentencing, they are not the total cause. My novel could be considered as being taken from a right wing or conservative approach because the perpetrators of the crime don’t get the justice they deserve. I’m worried that I will be accused of betraying my left wing principals and that I am moving to the right because of the story-line. I’m not!

Saying that and here’s a further example of how my mind works, while I still consider myself left of centre, (on the American spectrum, that makes me a raving communist), there is a lot about the left which I have become disillusioned with. Some of their lofty ideas don’t work in the real world and I live in the real world. Well, at least most of the time anyway. The problem with me is that my mind’s filter is very weak and everything gets through and is taken into consideration. Some might say that’s a great trait being open minded and though I don’t want to go the other way, this also causes my mind to go into overload and that’s not good either.

What all this means is that for me to get my mind in order and to unburden my soul, the next several posts, in between song lyric quotes, will be dedicated to my disillusion with the left and how my mind and hopefully others can go forward from there. I hope you will all come along for the ride.

To buy He Was Weird, go to: https://www.amazon.co.uk/He-Was-Weird-Michael-Lefevre/dp/1909740942/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1547469756&sr=1-1&keywords=he+was+weird

 

 

 

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It’s Sometimes Hard to See The Positive

Tags

anxiety, Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, D.A.M.P., Great Britain, softball, sports

The Phillies celebrate World Series glory in 2008.

Two months ago, I wrote a post titled: “Maybe I Should Just Quit.” The post was in regards to some problems I encountered when organizing my latest softball tournament, I organize two a year, and as a result, I was thinking of the possibility of stepping down from organizing the tournaments. In the end, I said I wasn’t going to step down for many reasons and decided to keep on organizing.

Since I wrote that post, a new development has entered into the equation. Shortly after, I was approached by someone who was representing the school where the tournaments are held expressing that the school was interested in taking over organizing the tournaments. They see it as a good way of raising funds for the school’s budding softball programme. I definitely see their point here. After two months of giving the issue serious thought, I have decided to step down and allow the school to take over organizing the softball tournaments.

While I feel relieved that the burden has been lifted from my shoulders, there is lots of anxiety running through my brain as well. Part of me still thinks I’m just using the offer from the school as an excuse to give up organizing the tournaments. At least, I worry that others will see it that way. Furthermore, since I’ve made the announcement to the British softball world, I have had several “likes” from people on Facebook on my declaration. My worry was that these people are clicking “like” because they are glad that I’m no longer organizing the tournaments and this was their way of diplomatically saying “Good riddance” to me. This worry comes about because I know that I have made mistakes during the sixteen years I’ve organized the tournament. On the other hand, I have had many positive comments thanking me for my efforts over the years. However, this does not fully stop me from worrying about the negative.

It is true that people tend to focus more on the negative than the positive in most given situations. This goes even more for people with Asperger’s Syndrome and related conditions. Even though there have been a lot of positive vibes sent my way, I can’t help thinking about the negative. Simply telling an Aspie to focus on the positive doesn’t solve the problem, especially with my past where I have been made to feel inferior to everyone all throughout my early life. These things do stick in the mind and even all these years later, it’s very difficult to shake off. Another worry, I’m not writing this to fish for compliments but am now worried people might think that.

This is not only mine but but typical of the mental minefields that people who have Asperger’s Syndrome have to walk through. The worry that something they have done might not be right in someone else’s eyes in spite of all their efforts plays heavily on an Aspie’s mind. It sure does mine. Hopefully, this worry will go away when I log back onto Facebook and see more positive comments.

The LA Dodgers

To buy He Was Weird, go to: https://www.amazon.co.uk/He-Was-Weird-Michael-Lefevre/dp/1909740942/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1544029203&sr=1-1&keywords=he+was+weird

I’m Speaking Out About It Now

Tags

1970s, anxiety, Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, books, bullying, He Was Weird, mental health, Mothers, schools, sexual abuse, teachers

There is a scene in my book, “He Was Weird,” which I call the “Smiley Incident.” To bring those who haven’t read it up to speed, Smiley is a substitute PE teacher at Mark’s school. While Mark is playing basketball with his fellow students, Smiley begins calling Mark, “Coordination Plus.” Then at one point, when Mark has his back to him, Smiley pulls Mark’s shorts down thus humiliating Mark in front of his entire class resulting in him getting teased about it for the rest of the day. When he goes home after school, Mark tells his mother about the pulling down of his pants. His mother and his grandfather immediately contact the police and have Smiley arrested.

As is the case with Mark throughout the story, even though Smiley pleads guilty to indecent assault as part of a deal and is banned from working with children for five years and put on the sex offenders list for two years, it doesn’t end well for him. Fellow classmates who support Smiley take the consequences he faces for his action out on the victim. This leads to Mark being further bullied and even to physical violence because he told his parents and had Smiley sent away.

Like with so many instances of bullying mentioned in the book, this too happened to me. However, it did not happen during the three years of bullying hell which I suffered and inspired me to write “He Was Weird.” In my freshman year in high school, I did encounter a man nicknamed Smiley who volunteered as an assistant wrestling coach, I’m not totally sure of that fact, at my school. He did join in with us playing basketball at one of my PE classes and he did call me ‘Coordination Plus.’ Most importantly though, he did pull my shorts down. However, I did nothing about it. In fact, I never mentioned it until 14 years ago when I was in counselling.

Why didn’t I report it back then? Well the main answer to that is that if I had, nothing would have been done about it. Attitudes were different in 1976 and while this doesn’t excuse it, it does highlight the fact that if I had reported it to the school, Smiley would have gotten a mere slap on the wrist at most and I would have been made out to be the weak ‘pussy’ for telling on him. This was why I was so easily able to write about the reprisals on Mark in the story because I genuinely feared that would have happened to me if I had reported it. I probably would have been beaten up by the wrestling team, so I feared. That’s why I never said anything. Ironically, when working as a substitute teacher a few years back, I did tell a class of children around the same age Mark was in the story about it. They overwhelmingly stated that I should have had Smiley done. Oh, how things have changed.

For those same reasons, I have never told my mother. She passed away in March never knowing that her son had been indecently assaulted in high school. I believe at the time, if I had told her, she and my grandfather would have reacted the same way Mark’s do in the story and even though it was 1976, would have tried to have Smiley prosecuted. They probably would have succeeded in getting him banned from the school. However, my fears were that all of the above things mentioned would have still happened to me. I would have been the bad guy for reporting it, even more so because I got my mother involved and there would have been a backlash. Therefore, I never told anyone. Besides if I had brought it up to my mother years later, it would have only caused her more grief, so I’m glad I never told her.

One final reason why I am only posting about it now after all these years is down to my own Asperger’s fueled anxieties. Former abuse victims have been coming out and telling about their awful experiences and I praise them highly for doing so. That leads to another anxiety; having my shorts pulled down isn’t nearly as bad as some of the sexual abuse others have suffered. Because what I experienced isn’t horrific, I felt I had no right to talk about it. It’s only now that I do and what it has done is make me even more empathetic to those who have suffered worse things than I. Also there’s my anxiety that because people are coming out about their abuse, I will be seen as simply jumping on the bandwagon. While it might sound daft, I do hope that people don’t really think that.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

To buy He Was Weird, go to: https://www.amazon.co.uk/He-Was-Weird-Michael-Lefevre/dp/1909740942/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1543425136&sr=1-1&keywords=he+was+weird

It Doesn’t Matter What You Call It If There Was a Gun Involved

Tags

Americans, Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, D.A.M.P., guns, mental health, NRA, Politics, school shootings, schools

Yesterday, I saw a presentation, I think it might have been Youtube but I haven’t been able to find it yet, about the misreporting of school shootings in the USA. Today, I’m kicking myself for not keeping the Google Alert where I found the article but that’s down to my mental health. Following my normal routine, I automatically deleted the alert, then a few hours later, I realized that this would be a good subject for my next post. That’s my delayed action memory at work here and that’s why I can’t show you the video.

Columbine Shooting-

What this video claimed was that the US Education Department says that there have been 240 school shootings this year when in fact there was only 11. Their evidence said that the Education Department backed up by the ‘liberal’ media has stretched the definition of a school shooting to substantiate their agenda. The presenters in the video said that the media claimed that any discharge of a weapon in or near a school was called a school shooting when it fact it wasn’t. Examples included a gun being accidentally discharged in a school and someone committing suicide with a gun while sitting in his car outside of a school. To this group, these weren’t school shootings and the liberals were only calling it such to strengthen their campaign against the National Rifle Association for tougher gun laws. Their conclusion was since the number of school shootings was actually so low, there is no need for tougher gun laws. 

Let’s look at this. First, maybe the ‘liberal’ media has gone too far in calling any gun discharge a school shooting and maybe there were only 11 school shootings in the real sense of the term. In my opinion, that is still 11 too many and therefore, does not change my desire to see tougher gun laws in America. Looking at the their descriptions of school shootings that weren’t, there was a gun near a school, that gun was fired and in some cases, even with the suicide, there was a casualty. Call it a school shooting or not, in these cases there was a shooting of some kind. The semantics of what people want to call it makes no difference. Furthermore, if anything, it further forwards the argument for gun control. The NRA and other organizations playing around with technical terms has little to do with it.

Shameless plug to “He Was Weird:” There would be no question what to call the shooting which happens in the story, it was a school shooting and according to one reader, a brutal one. Arguing about what to call it would have made no difference, especially to all the victims.

To buy He Was Weird, go to: https://www.amazon.co.uk/He-Was-Weird-Michael-Lefevre/dp/1909740942/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1542658973&sr=1-1&keywords=he+was+weird

 

 

 

 

 

All Things Lead to He Was Weird

Tags

American football, Americans, anxiety, Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, books, bullying, christianity, communication, D.A.M.P., films, friendship, Great Britain, guns, He Was Weird, ice hockey, intolerance, Marine Corps, Michael D LeFevre, Mothers, music, police, school shootings, schools, Self Esteem, social settings, teachers, teasing

My main motivation for starting Peaceful Rampage was to use it to notify people of my book, “He Was Weird,” which has been out for more than five years now. I have attracted a good number of followers, but while many have followed me because they share an interest in one area, I tend to blog about many topics which individuals may not be interested. The thing is that nearly everything I post about does in some way connect to the book. Therefore, I thought I would spend this page relating how.

Asperger’s Syndrome and Autism: This seems to be the field where I have attracted the most followers. Unlike Mark, the main character in the book, I have never been diagnosed with the condition although I am convinced that I have it. Therefore, it is great to find that there are many people who are like me. I feel part of a community and I enjoy reading posts from fellow Aspies and hope they enjoy reading mine. On the other hand, I don’t feel the need to write every post about it.

Bullying: I was a victim of horrendous bullying for three years and that was the inspiration to write “He Was Weird.” I wrote the book and this blog to reach out to other victims in the hopes that together, we can stamp out bullying and silence the ghosts of our own pasts.

School Shootings: That is how Mark finally deals with his bullying in the story. See, my bullying was so bad that whenever I read about a school shooting, my first response is, “This could have been me.” I sometimes wonder if I have a morbid fascination with mass shootings and that worries me. What I am glad is that I never had any access to guns back then.

Religion: Religion was a part of my childhood and I became a Born Again Christian at 11. As it was during the three years of bullying hell, I put it in the story and even use scripture to give Mark the courage to carry out his shooting. Nowadays, while I still believe the basics of Christianity and found that the Mormon faith was the best for me, I don’t wish to follow any organized religion. Because of my Asperger’s, I think that religion messed my head up more than everything else, most likely because I believed everything so literally. Still, I respect anyone who has religious or spiritual beliefs and can live by those beliefs.

Politics: There is not much of this in the story except at the end when the peace group Mark’s mother belongs to is infiltrated by Homeland Security. However, I have been politically aware and have been on both right and left of the political spectrum.

Music: My first book, “Rock and Roll Children” is about music so it’s always been a part of me as well. In “He Was Weird,” people try to blame Mark’s shooting on music and of course Marilyn Manson.

History: I love history and so does Mark. He becomes quite good at historical strategy games like Age of Empires. While history doesn’t  feature heavily in the book, it’s still there and it will always be a favourite topic of mine.

US-UK Relations: No I’m not talking about the ‘special relationship’ between the two countries. I am talking about the things I have observed about both countries during the second half of my life which I lived in the UK. That’s why after news of Mark’s shooting breaks, I do a BBC News report in the story. However, one thing I got wrong there is that the shooting didn’t lead the news and in reality, it would have.

Sports: I love sports, American football and ice hockey are my favourites. They are Mark’s too and like him, I had fantasies about being a great hockey player. It fits in well with the story.

There are probably smaller topics too but these are the main ones. I know not all of these will interest everyone but I hope that there is at least one that we hold your interest and make you read. However, it’s just not in my mindset to post about the same topic all the time. I just post what is in my weird mind at the time or I need to get off my chest. Keep reading as I am grateful for all who do.

To buy He Was Weird, go to: https://www.amazon.co.uk/He-Was-Weird-Michael-Lefevre/dp/1909740942/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1541717422&sr=1-1&keywords=he+was+weird

 

 

 

 

More Thoughts From an American in Great Britain

Tags

American football, Americans, Asperger's Syndrome, D.A.M.P., films, Freddie Mercury, Great Britain, Lorraine Kelly, police, Politics, Rami Malek, rednecks, soccer

You know, maybe I should do this as a regular blog. Being an American who has now lived more than half his life in Great Britain, I have a lot of thoughts and insights in regards to both countries. While it may seem that I have a lot of food for thought and I do, however, I don’t think it would be enough to fill a regular weekly blog. Still, I will share my thoughts when the situation warrants me doing so.

First, in regards to last week’s post on this subject, I have to give Lorraine Kelly credit where it’s due. Normally, she rubbishes American actors who play British roles. After all, she thinks Hollywood actors are all pampered spoiled brats, Actually, she has a point here. On this occasion though, she has sung the praises of how well American, yes American, actor Rami Malek has portrayed the role of legendary Queen singer Freddie Mercury in the new film, “Bohemian Rhapsody.” For those living on Jupiter, Freddie Mercury was English. To read how much Lorraine is impressed with Rami in the role was uplifting. So Lorraine, even though I still think you’re a blatant American hater, I applaud you for your words about Rami Malek.

Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury

Since my last post, I have had more thoughts as a Yank in the UK. First is the merging of opposites relating to police forces in both countries. Much has been made in the US and UK about American police officers indiscriminately shooting African American men. While the occurrences are often exaggerated in the media, the fact that this is a seemingly regular phenomenon and the fact that it happens doesn’t fill me with patriotic zeal for my country of birth. On the other hand, Britain has had to deal with gangs of Asian men grooming and sexually abusing young girls, most of whom are white. The police were very slow to address the issue hiding behind the excuse that if they had intervened, they would have been called ‘racist.’ To me, that is just a lame answer in an attempt to cover up lazy police work. Both countries police forces come together when it comes to what has been commonly referred to as ‘black on black’ crime. African American gangs have been a problem in America since the 1950s and recently there have been many cases of black men stabbing each other in the streets of many of Britain’s major cities. Both nation’s police forces seem to be of the mind that if blacks are killing each other, it’s no major matter. I think it is.

Did anyone watch the Philadelphia Eagles vs Jacksonville Jaguars game this past Sunday? Wembley Stadium in London was full to capacity. Not bad for a country who thinks American football isn’t popular.

Philadelphia Eagles

As I sign off for this week, I will leave you with one final amusing thought. Throughout my life living in two separate countries, I have met many Americans who I would like take to a pub full of (insert English Premiership football club here) supporters. Likewise, I have met many Brits who I would like to take to a redneck bar in rural USA. It would be very interesting to see what transpires in both settings.

To buy He Was Weird, go to: https://www.amazon.co.uk/He-Was-Weird-Michael-Lefevre/dp/1909740942/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1540930459&sr=1-1&keywords=he+was+weird

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some Amusing Things About America and Britain

Tags

American football, Americans, Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, BBC, Clara Barton, Crimea, Emmeline Pankhurst, Florence Nightingale, Great Britain, history, Lorraine Kelly, Russia, school shootings, stereotypes, Susan B Anthony, The Sun, US history

Last week’s post about the BBC seeming not to make a great deal out of the school shooting which took place in Crimea had me wondering what Lorraine Kelly might have said in her column in The Sun newspaper a few days after. After all, whenever a shooting happens in the US, Lorraine is the first to comment on the tragedy and go on about how all Americans love their guns etc. Therefore, I was hoping that she would say something in her column about the Crimea school shooting. Guess what? There was no mention of it in her column at all. My conclusion is that Lorraine and the BBC are only interested in school shootings if they happen in America. The sad thing is that this will not be the last school shooting to happen outside of the US.

Lorraine Kelly

Now that I got that off my chest, I have been thinking further about myths, facts and stereotypes bounding back and forth between the US and UK so I think I’ll write about that today.

First a myth: American football is not popular in Great Britain. Really? Has anyone in the UK tried to buy tickets to NFL games in London? I’ve tried on several occasions and they just sell out too quick. So we can at least conclude that at least around 70,003 people in the UK like American football. Further proof is the fact that I am a referee in the domestic game here in Britain and I can say there are over one hundred American football teams throughout the country.

College football

19th Century Women of History

During the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale gave up her life of privilege to attend to wounded soldiers She laboured tirelessly to improve conditions and medical conditions there. During the American Civil War less than a decade later, Clara Barton matched Florence’s actions.

At the end of that century, Emmeline Pankhurst led the Suffragette movement in getting women the right to vote. Her American counterpart was Susan B Anthony. Both women endured a lot of opposition and even arrest from males who wanted to maintain the status quo.

Florence Nightingale

Clara Barton

 

Emmeline Pankhurst

Susan B Anthony

As typical with my Aspergian mind, I had more thoughts on this but they’ve all seemed to have gone south. They’re probably come back shortly after post, I’ll just have to write them down for the next time.

To buy He Was Weird, go to: https://www.amazon.co.uk/He-Was-Weird-Michael-Lefevre/dp/1909740942/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1540315606&sr=1-1&keywords=he+was+weird

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe I Should Just Quit

Tags

American football, anxiety, Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, baseball, books, He Was Weird, sports

The LA Dodgers

Often there are times when we all feel this way, that we should just quit. It could be school, a job, a sports team, a band or any number of things. Quitting does often relieve the stress that comes with whatever the quitter is doing at the time. That no longer have to do the thing which was causing hardship in your life can often be a major release. However, while quitting might rid one of the short term stress, it often doesn’t solve the problem and can create more.

The option of quitting something came upon me two days ago. Twice a year, I organize a softball tournament in my hometown where teams from all over Britain come to play. Yes, they do play softball in the UK. For the most part, the tournament was a big success but there was a few issues as well. During the sixteen years I have been running the tournament, there has been very few injuries. This last one, however, was like a combat zone. There were at least six possibly serious injuries, including three people getting hit on the head with a ball and one more in the mouth as well as a very worrying ankle injury. To make matters worse, even though I am a qualified first aider, (I saw my certificate today), I froze when the injuries happened and my Asperger’s kicked in because there were more injuries on this day than all the tournaments going back 16 years combined. Plus, the first aid kit I kept in my car wasn’t there when I needed it. At the tournament’s conclusion, a couple of the umpires expressed their dissatisfaction at the way the injuries were handled and are going to report it to the British Softball Federation. While, I have been told not to worry about that too much it only makes me worry more. After, all I have Asperger’s and things like this play hell with my anxieties.

To further fuel the flames, the following day I received an email from the manager of the venue where the tournaments are held stating that there was a lot of litter left behind. He also made a very good point that the tournament was played by adults so there was no excuse for there to be so much litter after. I have to agree with it but the ultimately, the responsibility lies with me as the organizer. My big worry here is that he might not allow the tournaments at the venue any more and there is no real suitable place in the area to hold it. At best, there is one place but that venue is only capable of putting three diamonds on it as opposed to the four I normally have and teams will be playing on a incline. So, it’s easy to see why I don’t want to lose the venue.

As a result, I have thought of simply falling on my sword and stepping down as the tournament organizer. I even have a logical argument that I can still assist with the tournament in a support role in many ways. Not having to organize and be responsible for it would relieve many anxieties. However, if I was to quit, I don’t think anyone would be willing to take over and the tournaments would end. I also believe that many softball players would be disappointed if the tournament went away, just for the sake of getting to play more softball if nothing else. The main reason that keeps me from simply quitting is because like my post about suicide a few weeks back, I see quitting as taking the coward’s way out. I would be quitting just because a couple of things didn’t go right and not facing those challenges.

At the moment, I don’t intend to step down. Saying that, my anxieties are such that I worry that anyone who knows me through softball who reads this is going to accuse me of trying to get sympathy from everybody. That’s not the case, besides, with my experience, it would probably have the reverse effect and everyone would be telling me to quit. No, the best thing here is to learn from my mistakes and soldier on. I already have ideas for addressing the problems.

Shameless tie in with my book, “He Was Weird:” In the story Mark quits the football team because he doesn’t get to play even when his team wins 24-0. His heart was no longer in the game anyway and like my own experience which this story line is based on, quitting the team leads to further bullying from his former teammates.

To buy He Was Weird, go to: https://www.amazon.co.uk/He-Was-Weird-Michael-Lefevre/dp/1909740942/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1539210927&sr=1-1&keywords=he+was+weird

Back From Client Holiday

Tags

Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, books, Great Britain, holidays, Minehead

These past few days, I went on a client holiday to Minehead with a service user named Jerry. We went there last year and stayed at the same holiday home. Like last year, things were very laid back and it did give me some inspiration and motivation for writing my next short story.

We were only there two days but we managed to pack a lot into them. We went on the cliff train at Lynmouth and also rode the steam train the entire length this time. Here are some pictures, enjoy.

Lynmouth Harbour from the cliff train.

The fog coming off the hills

The cliff side train.

Watchet Harbour from the steam train.

 

 

 

Stereotype Kept Me From Getting Help

Tags

Americans, anxiety, Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, counselling, D.A.M.P., Great Britain, mental health, Mormons, social settings, stereotypes

Further reflecting on last week’s post about how I have grown comfortable living in Great Britain has brought up an issue from the past. When I came to the UK 32 years ago, the one great piece of baggage I brought with me was my mental health issues. Changing country doesn’t make them go away, though I never thought it would. Saying that, I still disagree with the college chaplain at Queen Mary College in London, who said that I came to Britain to run away from my problems. I won’t go further into it but you can read my ancient post, “Did I Run Away?” if you’re interested.

Thirty or so years ago, mental health was a taboo subject for people but even more so in Britain. In 1990, I went to my doctor because I have a family history of thyroid problems and I saw that I had some of the symptoms associated with it. My doctor told me that it was all in my head and referred me to a psychiatrist. When I started seeing the psychiatrist, my wife swore me to secrecy about it, especially around her family. Her feeling was that seeing a shrink wasn’t something you do in Britain. It’s something Americans do. During the time I was seeing the psychiatrist, I was also strong in the Mormon Church. There was some things the psychiatrist said that came into conflict with the teachings of the church. As a result, I thought I should talk to my bishop about it and when I told him that I was seeing a psychiatrist, his response was, “A lot of Americans do that.” Even though, he gave me some wise council regarding it, those words were the ones that stuck out the most.

This is the stereotype that filtered through my Asperger’s/DAMP mind for many years. Throughout my life, I always thought that there wasn’t something quite right in my mind. Hell, others were quick to point it out too. However, in addition to the popular taboos about seeing a mental health practitioner, the fear that I was acting like a stereotypical American persuaded me from getting any help. Shrinks and counselors were things that ‘Americans do’ and in Britain, you’re simply supposed to sort it out on your own. The stereotype went even further with some Britons saying that Americans were so weak minded, they need to talk to their psychiatrist because they can’t cope with their pet hamster dying. I definitely didn’t want to be thought of in that way.

Eventually, I did break free of the stereotype when I decided to go into counselling many years ago. Even then, I did it in such a way that only the people I wanted to knew about it. Fortunately, at my first session with the counselor, I told her my fears with the stereotype and it was a major breakthrough for me when she said she had never heard about that stereotype. While that was a major turning point, there were still many obstacles to over come and with that help, I have been able to overcome many of those. My conclusion is that no matter where you live or who you are, if you need help, go and get it!

Now, my Asperger’s mind has me envisioning loads of people, most British, saying that I shouldn’t have let that stereotype get to me. Well, they’re right, I shouldn’t have. But when there are so many stereotypes against your nationality that I wanted to avoid, the last thing I wanted to do was to do something that substantiated that stereotype. I must also point out that not all British people think that about Americans and I don’t want to be accused of stereotyping all British people, my counselor certainly didn’t. Stereotypes aren’t good and with someone with a mental health problem, they can get in the way of getting the help that person needs.

To buy He Was Weird, go to: https://www.amazon.co.uk/He-Was-Weird-Michael-Lefevre/dp/1909740942/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1538416596&sr=1-1&keywords=he+was+weird