The Unfortunate Story of Mr. J

Well this is the story of a person a few of us in town know. Some of us for a long time. I actually went to school with him from K to 8. At that time the school was a bit rough but no worse that any other school in town. The problem was that Mr. J though that he was the only good person in the school and that everyone was out to harm him. Sure enough there where a couple of people that did pick on Mr. J. Those people being the victims of a bad family situation and it made them lash out. This is no justification however, just the reason.

But in the mind of Mr. K. All others around him where out to cause him problems and where talking about him behind his back. You can see the problem here, as in reality he was unremarkable to the rest of the student body. In fact he blended into the wood work so well that I and many others where barely aware of him and most of us did not even know his name. Mr. J was a loner you see and unwilling to make friends. Personally several of us tried and where met with a frightened person who did not even speak to us; so we left him to himself.

Cut to many years later and Mr. J comes into my life and now wants to be friends. Well I don't think that is the word, more like a one way relationship of him spilling his problems (most outlandish) on me at all hours of the day and night. This went on for about a year until I had had my fill my him.

You see it was not just that I was tired of listening to how bad his life was and that everyone was picking on him - but  he in fact had called me up in the middle of the knight and woke me several times with a rather disturbing crank call. See where I'm going here? Yes the one who claims everyone is being so bad to him in fact was the one being bad to others.

It by far did not end at this. Several others in my circle ended up with the knowledge that we ALL knew Mr. J. In fact one of my friends had been harassed harshly by Mr. J. See he had called the cops telling them all manner of evils that my friend was up to. I am sad to say this happened more than one time. My friend on the other hand wanted nothing to do with this man at all and just wanted to be left alone.

Mr. J has a life long history of mental issues that are rather deep rooted and rather hard to control with medication. His is in fact in the unfortunate group of mentally ill people who find little help from medication. I for one had experienced his manic phases where he was out of his mind literally. It was the he would do things like call me up at 3am and harass me. It was also in these states that he insisted that we where all out to get him some how.

I remember being blindly duped into going to Regina with him to tell some former professor of his how my friend has been going there to tell his students all manner of things about Mr. J. It was at that moment I realized just how out of his mind he was and a lot of things from the past made sense to me.

I would like to say this ended with me telling him to never contact me again. The fact of the mater is I am 100% sure this will be seen by Mr. J. You see he makes it his life's work to monitor the comings and goings of a good number of people he thinks are "judging him".

He has gone on many occasions to the work place of another friend and confronted him trying to prove how intelligent he was and how accomplished he was. He would then accuse my friend of looking down on him and having a false sense of wisdom that made him think he is above Mr J. Sigh.

See the point here is not to look down on this unfortunate person. The point here is that we ALL and many more, have tried to help him in the past. Until the time he started to phone me and the realization he thought my other friend was the devil, I was there for him any time he needed to talk. I tried my best to be his friend and his illness tainted it.

I'm a strong person when I need to be but I'm unwilling to let someone use his illness as an excuse to abuse my or anyone. This is why I turned my back.

So what is my point? The point is some people can't be helped as they are just too sick. But there is always room in my heart for the suffering the go threw, even if I can't be around them for my own sake and safety. As well some times when you try to help you end up being a victim.

The thing I find most impressive in this entire thing is the person who has gone out of his way for many many years to harass others and to try and get them in trouble is the one who claims to be a constant victim of bullying. This is a very sad situation as people like Mr. J cause his victims to look at people who are being bullied in a different light - a not so supportive light sadly in most cases.

This being said, you can trust me when I say my friends and I have nothing but pity for this sad man. We know he can't help himself and he is the victim of his own mind.

I know first hand what it is to be betrayed by your own mind and the fear and paranoia it can cause. I also am lucky that medication has helped me to the point I can be a functional person and not in fear of things that are not real. It is also the number one reason I don't despise Mr. J and in fact pity him.

I am a man who believes in a God and I pray to that God. I know that sounds stupid to many who will read this but it is who I am. I pray for this poor man that he may find peace of mind some day and not be tormented any more. This is the way of my friends as well and we all think the trouble he has made for many people will be forgiven one day as we forgive him now.

Yes we need to be protected from people like this some times and those who are much worse, but we can have room in our hearts for their suffering. As those couple of kids who picked on Mr. J, he has reasons for lashing out that are not in his control. Don't judge people harsh and try to see there might be a reason for their actions.

Peace and love be with you. I pray you have a blessed day or night after reading this. Hugs.