[Climb01742]

My sister was (and may be today if she's alive) homeless and living in her car. Her other 'home' was a VA hospital. She has a mental illness. And when she has care and medication and help around her she's ok. When she doesn't, a side of her comes out that all the love in the world can't breach.

She had a 20-year Naval career. It's when she got out that she and her life fell apart. I don't know the details of her life in the Navy but she rose to be a Lt. and had a pretty substantial degree of responsibility and command of not a few people. If I look at her life inside and outside the Navy, at least one major difference was structure and support and care.

One of the great American myths is self-reliance. The rugged individual who pulls themselves up by their bootstraps. And yes, those folks exist. But I wonder how many there really are? And how many of us keep our ***** together because of others? Because of structure and support and care? Are we 'strong' because of the strength around us? If we lost our moorings and bearings and the walls and hands supporting us, where would we be?

I'll be honest. Growing up, my sister was the 'strong' one, the disciplined one, the one on the straight and narrow path. I was the flakey one. And there are moments now when I feel things and wonder, could I fall off the edge too if it wasn't for those around me and what is around me? She fell off the edge. Could I? It makes it harder for me to judge others harshly and far easier for me to want everyone to have structure and care around them. My sister isn't a bad person. Only an ill one, and on her unlucky days, an alone one.