What can we DU now to help TTW and Yoshi ?

[underahedgerow]

224. Everyone wonders why TTW isn't acting rationally. Well, she can't.

She's not capable of making decisions that most of us here recognize as 'easy' and logical. She has mental health issues. Whether they can be addressed with medication or in a regulated setting is something only professionals can determine. Since she has no stewards in her life as most likely, she has driven them away given her limited rational abilities, the possibility of getting her into an analytical setting is nearly impossible. I'm guessing her family has done the best they can, but when you're dealing with mental illness, sometimes the only solution is to let nature take its course, and step away, to save the others in the family from harm and stress.

That being said, going back to the Reagan bashing event when he 'let the nuts out of the loony bins'. It comes down to the issue of free will. Can we as humans, rightfully detain people against their will if they pose no threat to others? It's basic human rights; no, we can't.

I find the suggestion to set up a managed fund for TTW to be equally unrealistic, given her current state of mind. Even a normal, healthy individual would oppose the idea of funds being controlled and used for a specific purpose only, with no control from the recipient. Propose that situation to someone on the borderline paranoid schizophrenic scale and you'll be met with hostility and no gratitude whatsoever.

As far as the dog, if you step back, you'll see that Yoshi and TTW are nearly one and the same. Funny how the two would find each other, a symbiosis of incredible tragedy. Neither can be helped by anyone from the outside, without the other. Tragically the only realistic outcome for him is for some genuine hero to step up, like Cesar Milan or someone of that caliber, to recondition the animal and provide an objective opinion on if the animal is worth saving. Sadly, with TTW's condition, the potential of that happening is zero to none. A few heroes have tried to step up and step in, and were burned badly. This isn't TTW's fault, she is not in control of her mental condition and we mustn't blame her, but this is the problem with mental illness...

The caveat here is that we must sometimes be objective. We cannot save every single animal that is in need, especially if it is at great expense and if it causes harm to the animal, as some are suggesting 'putting the dog in a cage'. Well, there isn't a creature alive on the planet that thrives in a cage. Sometimes the most optimal outcome is to put the animal down, and divert the scarce resources towards animals that can be turned around and 'saved'.

I think that collectively we must all resign ourselves to the fact that there is nothing that anyone can do here. TTW is pretty much unemployable in her mental state, which has probably deteriorated over the years. Yoshi is pretty much un-re-homeable in his current state. Unless TTW has the mental capacity to realize that she has to let go of Yoshi in order to get herself back on track, and recognizes that she needs serious long term medical mental health care AND has the money to even fund such a venture, the outcome, while not specific, is predictable.

This is how the world works with mental illness. It's a desperate spiral down the drain, and sometimes, all we can do is step back and wish it were all different. So many people have devoted a lot of time, love and effort here, and all we can take from it is the lesson that sometimes, we are powerless over issues that are far bigger than we are. We can't save everyone, no matter how hard we try.

But, you tried. You all tried... that's the best we can say, and there is no shame in that.