Читать книгу Becoming a Counselor - Samuel Gladding T., Samuel T. Gladding - Страница 16

“Behave or they’ll send you to Milledgeville!”

My friends and siblings would often say that when I was growing up and acting what they termed “a little bit crazy.” The reason the name of a former capital of Georgia came up in conversation was that it was the site of the Georgia Insane Asylum. No longer was Milledgeville a place where you went for politics. It was now a place for lunatics. (Actually, I am pretty sure some Georgian politicians ended up there!)

I never went to Milledgeville, but I am aware that during my childhood, the institution was overcrowded. Five thousand patients were confined in a space constructed for half that many. I have since learned that the book and movie The Three Faces of Eve (about multiple personalities) was based on a person who had spent part of her life at the asylum.

In some ways I wish I had been sent to Milledgeville because it seemed so mysterious. However, I am more grateful that I did not take that ride south. I would probably have been traumatized or deeply disturbed.

I do not know of any sentence I have heard since my preteen years that has made me act more properly than the one that began this piece. Behavior has consequences, whether it sends you somewhere or not.