Id like to offer a shout-out to the Eugene Police Department. Today, I witnessed an act of policing which turned my world upside down. Officer Jeremy ... demonstrated a sophistication and sensitivity with regard to dealing with T which spoke not only of a vast degree of experience, but a core humanity profoundly uncompromised by the assumption of authority. I dont know if I have ever witnessed so clearly how gentleness and wisdom mark the apex of truly effective peacekeeping. Who the heck do I contact to get the fellah a pat on the back? Yup, as I ponder the events of this morning and the last few days I am so very often reminded of how beautys finest light is birthed at lifes darkest frontiers. A great mountain of kindness and care has coalesced around a community-wide response to support T through the immensity of her struggle. So many people are shining in so many ways. Some details, then. Around midday, a convoy of friends and the EPD, carried a willing Tegra to the ER at PeaceHealth. This morning, she had crashed onto the streets. By now shoeless, hair-matting, clothes dirtying, her decline in the past 24 hours has been precipitous. Last night apparently, she stole the microphone at the Slug Queen Event, spouting madness at the audience. Throughout the night, she led the friend who had offered her shelter a trautmatic ride. This morning she hit the streets. Shortly thereafter, through the simply remarkable grapevine which has grown up around her, I tracked T down at New Day. Quite paranoid now, it was clear her mania had crossed a lunacy threshhold. I emailed the listserv, welcoming support. I sat with her a while, then she fled. A few minutes later, a call came in again, locating her. Myself and our common friend Myles, who I had met by chance upon the street, were able to usher her back to New Day for tea. She sat and talked and acted and I watched the tears well in Myles eyes. T, our dearest T, the agonized lunatic. We had called the police on the way in, convinced by my conversation on the sidewalk that T had become a threat to herself and others. A couple of particulars - the look in the eye around talk of suicide, the driving of a large knife into the table between us - you shoulda seen my eyes, large as saucers - confirmed my sense of the appropriateness of extraordinary measures. Then, a flashmob of mobilized friends (Our listserv is a glorious asset. Social media is wonderful.) began to drift in. We sat around her in the sunshine while she babbled and played with objects on the table. The police turned up so quietly, it was a little while before I noticed they were present, outside the restaurant, hiding up the sidewalk. I peeled out for a chat and there I met Officer Jeremy and his cohort. I aint feeling too eloquent just now but suffice to say the righteousness of Jeremys skillset was sublime. He clearly intuited that the antithesis of what was required in this particular instance was a show of uniform and force, rather the potent dialectic of subtlest influence. His questions were clear, concerned, direct, friendly. He had clarity around his requirements, needs and responsibilities. Esssentially, the fellah understood what he was dealing with and how to deal with it. He wanted to craft an encounter that _worked_. (If it works, it works, is lifes deepest philosophy. - Kevin Kelly.) He impressed me beyond words. I had taken Ts large knife from her bag in a flash, returned to check in with the officers who entered the restaurant and politely showed themselves. Would you go to the emergency room, T? T easily agreed to go to the hospital in the car of her Qi Gong instructor, with the police car following. T didnt want me in the car with her, so Myles and I followed, trinitarian style. With the police involved, LIfe the Universe and Everything had finally conspired to give Tegs the legal authority to get in front of a doctor. T is now in ER being moved, I believe, into the Johnson Unit - our local psych ward. I hung around the hospital a few hours taking care of housekeeping details. Then a landmate came and collected me. I am exhausted from the intensity and focus. While the hospital thang was going on, our listserv was busy tracking down Ts out-of-state family. No one on the listserv knows them, but we are a large community of caring beings and we found the peeps who found the peeps who do. So, as I was standing on the corner of 13th and Hilyard, awaiting my ride from hospital to home, Ts sister Tiffany tracked me down. Your sister is safe. I told her. It means so very, very much to her that T has a community in town who cares for her. Mom is coming in from CA, I believe. I am gratified that we have peeps on the inside of the psych ward who are amazing and who know T. And ironic, isnt it, that our focus now shifts to supporting what is necessary to spring her. That will be a longer chapter of community living, I sense.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 01:14:46 +0000
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