An Advocate's Creed

Dear world, I live with depression. It is something that impacts me every day, though not in the way that you think. It has made me a stronger, more passionate, more empathetic human being, and I would not be nearly the person I am today had I not had to struggle with and overcome the depression that plagues me.

I will no longer accept any of the shame or guilt you have attempted to pile upon me. I am proud to be who I am today and nobody can take that way from me. I will no longer remain silent and I will no longer allow you to shame those who suffer through what I've suffered through into silence. I will shout my story to the world, and I will encourage others who share my experiences, though I may not know them and though they may not know me, into shouting their stories to the world as well. And we will continue to shout, and continue to grow, until there is no one left who feels that they have to remain silent. We will allow you to shame us or anybody else no more, and we will no longer tolerate or abide you punishing us for daring to share our experiences.

And once we have obliterated your culture of shame and disgrace we will finally be able to come together as a community, as a culture of our own, a culture of pride and strength and caring, and we will reject and overcome the intolerance you bear down on us just as you bear down on any who make you uncomfortable. And we will be free of your oppression, free of both the internal prisons you have crafted and forced us into as well as the very real institutions you have directed us to and from that you, in your ignorance and in your arrogance, have decided are or are not appropriate for someone in our condition. While we will never fully be free of that which afflicts us, we will be free of the conditions that you have invented to limit, embarrass and degrade us. We will finally tear down the walls you have built for us, against us, between us, and we will be free.

But we will never stop shouting our stories.