Every four years, the two main political parties gather in large arenas to nominate their presidential candidates. We’re in the middle of the Democratic Convention now. (BTW: I’m a registered Independent.) Watching the scenes on TV, I’ve been thinking about the estimated 35,000 people attending and the huge space that must accommodate them all. Both can be demanding on someone with bipolar mood disorder – especially when he or she is in the mania stage.
Teen bipolar sufferers know about that. One young woman said she gets irritable and feels like she’s suffocating when she goes to a big concert; consequently, she often encourages her boyfriend to go without her.
In Light Fixtures, Aurora is happiest when she’s alone, moving fast in the pastures or woods, though she’s comfortable having her elder friend Mr. Hematite and his assistant Mr. Dragonfly around. Of course, during this fast-moving time she’s dealing with mania, and the onset of teen bipolar mood disorder, so she’s not staying long anywhere or interested in going to where a lot of folks are. Feeling intensely everything around her at once, she’s often overwhelmed with all the stimuli.
And there’s certainly plenty of stimuli at a convention hall; therefore, I don’t think Aurora would have done well at such a large gathering. But that makes me wonder if any of those faces we see at the convention, as they go about the serious and noteworthy business of nominating a candidate, could too be dealing unknowingly with the same mood disorder. Certainly with the arena, the sounds and the people-movement, that could be understandable.
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