ANOTHER YEAR AND GETTING BETTER ...

ANOTHER YEAR AND GETTING BETTER …
by Timothy Rollins, Editor and Publisher

May 15, 2002

It seems that when I hear of somebody having a birthday, they complain about getting older. Is it me or are these folks missing the point entirely? I remember three years ago when I wrote a column called “Life Begins at 40”. In it, I stated how excited I felt that at the halfway point of my life with having had the privilege of having had a front-row seat at so many events in world history, that I was a fortunate and blessed man indeed.

I turn 43 today. Unlike most, I make no secret of my age and rather than dread it, I embrace and celebrate having reached another milestone in my life – and unlike many colleagues, I hold my age extremely well, having been both an athlete and ballroom dancer for a large part of my life. I celebrate having been blessed with another year with which to celebrate my life – with my family – more particularly my six-year old son T.J., and also with my friends within and outside my church community as well as with my staff and colleagues at The American Partisan, all of whom have added so much to many different areas of my life.

Perhaps with the events of 9-11, I am more appreciative of this birthday than most, for it is through a fortuitous turn of events a number of years ago that I am alive today and not quite possibly one of the casualties of the events of that horrific day last September. While there are many who do not believe in God and in His Son Jesus Christ – I do, and I believe that it is for reasons I do not yet fully understand that the sequence of events of the last 10 years have allowed me to be here instead of elsewhere, and to have allowed my life to have been preserved for whatever reasons that I will one day fully figure out.

Back in early 1992, I was formally diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, Type II, Mixed Type and am a rapid cycler. A couple of years later, I went public with my condition – my illness, if you will, for that is exactly what it is. Like a diabetic in need of insulin or a cancer patient in need of chemotherapy, bipolar patients who follow the advice of their doctors and adhere to their prescribed medications can and often do live substantive and productive lives. They live lives that are happy, joyful and meaningful if that is how they choose to live them. They wake up in the morning feeling they have lives worth getting up for and go to sleep feeling they have accomplished something meaningful with their day. I am happy to say that I am one of these.

One of the tragedies that all too often goes with mental illness in America and elsewhere is the misinformation, prejudice and stigma that all too often goes with those afflicted with this condition. Such stigmas are unfortunate – especially in this day and age of a supposedly enlightened society with the significant advances in modern medical technology and research in these areas and the continual improvements and developments as they pertain to patient treatments and medications. While one in six with this condition eventually commit suicide, many are able to rely on and make good use of reliable support networks (friends, family and community resources) to help them live lives as normal as anyone else.

As the years have gone by, I have come to appreciate even more than ever the sanctity, beauty and marvel of human life. While I love all my children and was present at the births of my three – Michael, Stephanie and T.J., I have special memories of each which will forever remain a part of my consciousness – not just for now, but for eternity as well.

Michael’s saying “Hi, Stephie!” and gently kissing her on the forehead the day after she was born, Stephanie being held by President McPhie in his office on the 12th floor of the Church Office Building when I took her and Michael to see him when I was on vacation in Salt Lake City as he spoke to them about the temple and seeing her light up as she sensed a familiarity to his words; T.J. going to the temple for his annual snapshot at the fountain – each of these memory builders have only added not to my belief, but to the knowledge that we do not get older with the passing of each year, but only better and that only comes as we seek to better understand as well as serve those around us.

Whether they be our spouses, children, grandchildren, in-laws, friends, colleagues, neighbors or whoever, as we tend to the needs of those around us as we are called upon to do so, we’ll find our lives filled with an extra measure of joy, which to me is far better than happiness. Someone once asked me the difference between happiness and joy, and I answered them this way:

“The difference between happiness and joy is that happiness is fleeting whereas joy is lasting. Such is the gift to each of us from a loving Father in Heaven and is available to all who choose to follow the Master and place their trust in Him.”

And so in closing, that is my birthday wish to all of you, that it may be so for all of us. ***

Photo of Timothy Rollins courtesy of staff files