The Great Pumpkin and the Shame of Cutting
News Reporter: Mr. Great Pumpkin how do you reply to reports that you advocate cutting and Self-injury???Caption: News Flash: Pumpkin Cutting on the Rise
Each year the The Peanuts gang would make fun of Linus as he wasted time in the pumpkin patch waiting for the great pumpkin. I really think there is a lot we can learn from Linus and his patiently waiting year-in and year-out for the great pumpkin to appear. I believe, we can make the analogy of anyone of us who live with a serious mental illness like depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia who are waiting for our great pumpkin that will bring us back our reality or everything that we have lost in the process of our recovery. Whether Linus knew it or not, he was really setting an example that we can emulate…have faith and patience and never stop hoping and dreaming for a better future.
Secondly, I would like to raise the issue of the great pumpkin and his inability to stop this self- injury and cutting. I believe this is my second cartoon dealing with self- injury. It’s kind of funny to me that the last cartoon was Mrs. potato head and this cartoon is a pumpkin. I’m not sure if that is done subconsciously or not, but it does not escape my notice and it cracks “me” up.
It was March of 2008 that right after a hospital visit I last had a bout with self-injury. I progressed from cutting to burning and branding and this March will be five years that I last used self-injury to deal with my emotional distress. It also marks five years of mental health recovery…This last time that I was in the crisis intervention unit was the same time that I stopped my self- injury issues.
March of 2008 was when I started drawing the mental health humor cartoons. I give the …
