@GerryDales @CJA1781 @amandacarpenter all of you are horrible assholes
— d.m. (@missumyhappybrd) December 28, 2016
This is how I started my morning.
I am sure she had the best of intentions in chiding me, but she really did miss the point. However, she did not miss the point nearly as badly as did a TV report on Carrie Fisher's death. I think it may have been E! Tonight or some similar show. They lauded her for her triumph over her mental illness of Bipolar Disorder.
No, she had no such triumph. It killed her.
That she was vocal about it, and that she fought it, and that she did a world of good with her efforts does not change the fact that it tormented her. When up, it made her ignore consequences and boundaries. When down, it made her want to bring the consequences on. It led her to self-medicate throughout her life. This self-medication likely led to her dying by age 60.
She had a serious illness, no more shameful than if she had cancer. To say she triumphed over it does a disservice to her efforts to make people understand what dealing with a mental illness is like. What dealing with this mental illness is like.
She was a treasure as a performer and, by all accounts, an all-time personality.
But Bipolar Disorder killed her. Was the damage to hear heart done in her 20s? 40s? Last year? Last week? It does not matter. It killed her. If we gloss over that, then her early passing was truly a waste.
