On the first of August, my son turned two years old. B”H. My parents came to visit from America for that week, and we did all of the various things that one does when their parents fly 6,000 miles across the globe to see them and to celebrate a milestone in their child’s life, including going out to eat; A LOT.
Generally this is a good thing, but one morning they invited us to go out that evening to a restaurant with them to celebrate their 49th anniversary!
So they asked around, spoke with one of their more well-heeled friends here and found a great restaurant to go to.
The food was fantastic, the conversation; fun and engaging, but mid way through the meal, I noticed a girl, perhaps 16 or 17, who was showing all the classic symptoms of “tic” OCD.
I leaned over and told my wife, so she looked and saw the same thing that I did. Her tics were bar none, absolutely the worst that I had ever seen.
Look, I’ve been around, I once spent two months in a rehab clinic in around ’95 where there was an entire center dedicated to the research and treatment of OCD. This was the center in which I met Dr. Throstur Bjorgnvinsson, the man who helped me learn to beat my own OCD.
Parents sent their children from all over the world to work with Dr. B and his staff, in hopes that this man, THE expert on OCD, could effectively treat them and allow them to live either greatly improved, or in many cases even relatively normal lives.
I saw in that brief time, some on the absolute worst cases of OCD in the world, literally. Still, NEVER had I seen anyone with such a bad case as this girl had, at that little restaurant that night!
She had horrible eye twitches, body spasms, and uncontrollable jerking movements. Truly it was so sad to see, it really was heart-wrenching.
Look, there are a huge range of OCD symptoms that one can be afflicted with; from mild (lining up their shoes, making sure that everything is in order), to very severe; such as this girl had, or say compulsive hand washing to the point of making their hand raw, and in rare cases, removing the skin to a large degree.
Those of us with mild cases must be extremely grateful, and thank the G-d of our understanding, that we are not afflicted to such degrees. When you feel stressed, feel different, or embarrassed, there are certainly treatments available.
But remember, it could ALWAYS be worse!
Much worse.
Enjoy the day, and never forget to be grateful,
Mordechai