A married couple who fled Haiti for Virginia achieved their American dream when they opened a variety market on the Eastern Shore, selling hard-to-find spices, sodas and rice to the region’s growing Haitian community.
When they added a Haitian food truck, people drove from an hour away for freshly cooked oxtail, fried plantains and marinated pork.
But Clemene Bastien and Theslet Benoir are now suing the town of Parksley, alleging that it forced their food truck to close. The couple also say a town council member cut the mobile kitchen’s water line and screamed, “Go back to your own country!”
“When we first opened, there were a lot of people” ordering food, Bastien said, speaking through an interpreter. “And the day after, there were a lot of people. And then … they started harassing us.”
It isn’t easy, but so many of us go through it every day, yet we still feel alone in it very often. I’m not ashamed of getting help, just about my time thinking getting help was wimpy or not necessary, so now I just want to help take the stigma out of it.
I feel that to the core. People stigmatize getting professional help, but it’s the healthiest that actually seek help honesty (eg not to avoid consequences of behavior). We need to spread that message.
What’s really shameful is expecting those around the sick* to get sicker, so the sickest feel better about their illness, rather than allow them to feel sick long enough to seek wellness.
Oh autocorrect *
If you told people you’d be sick for months or years with any other condition besides mental health, people would say why the hell haven’t you seen someone. Mental health and addiction as well seem to get that help discouraged, at least publicly. It’s weird.
Yep and yep. Idk though, even addiction is a bit more acceptable, in some places, than depression, or even ADD. It’s sad and telling.
I suppose a functioning addict can kinda play it off as just part of their personality. Mental health I can’t think of a way to spin it as something “cool.” Mania or brooding, maybe, but not so much a fun characteristic in a friend the more time goes on. But many will just abandon you at that point rather than try to steer you to help.
Maybe. I think where I am, addiction isn’t addiction unless it’s worse than mine, and “what do mean, ‘mental illness?’ THAT’S normal and you’re the weirdo!”
I’m not saying it’s correct, just that people confuse “normative” with “inside healthy parameters” all the time!
Edited for formatting
I don’t think I know too many people that would qualify as “normal” to begin with. We all need to put a lot of work into our outwardly happy lives, some just more than others. The main thing is just that we keep doing those things for ourselves to make us the best we can be in our situations.
That’s my point. Let me edit that to use single and double quotes, my b.
Edit: done
Oh, thank you! That makes much more sense and now I don’t think I annoyed you somehow! 😅