Paul H. Williams, Gleaner Writer

Wayne Saunders, the mentally ill man who jumped from a ledge at the Kingston Public Hospital, told His Story last year about his challenges. - File

When I heard it on the midday news two Fridays ago, I was a bit shaken up, for I had seen it coming. But, it was the dramatic footage on TVJ, of Wayne 'Selassie' Saunders jumping from a third-floor window at Kingston Public Hospital that sent chills up my spine. The image haunted me all night as, in his effort to get a listening ear, Wayne Saunders had reached out to me several times, and I pulled away.

The perfect man

I met Wayne for an interview after a colleague gave me his contact information, and on April 16 and 26 last year, His Story carried a two-part series on him titled 'The perfect man'. Based on what was written, readers The purpose of His Story, therefore, is to tell the story of the Jamaican man who wants to talk about his triumphs, successes, failures and challenges. One such challenge is mental instability. But, while the woman who is mentally challenged usually gets the full support of family, friends and mental institutions, her male counterpart invariably is confronted with discrimination, physical and verbal abuse, and ridicule, as was poignantly demonstrated by a bunch of cruel and insensitive onlookers who shouted, "Jump, jump, jump," while Wayne was still on the ledge.

This callous attitude towards people who are so afflicted is symptomatic of a nation that is even sicker than Wayne, a nation in which we bask in our brothers' downfall and walk in their blood. A nation, where we appear on TV every night with placards seeking justice for family members and associates who are gunned down by scurrilous criminals. Yet, we excitedly urged a mentally unstable man to jump to his death. Luckily, Wayne survived, but in what state?

Mental illness knows no boundary. It transcends race, gender, religion, politics, sexuality, social and financial strata, but carries with it taboos and stigmas. It brings 'embarrassment' to some families, relatives, neighbours and friends. And that's what we all care about. It is not about the well-being of the affected, but about the 'shame' they can cause us.

Ridiculed

And it was in that regard I was ridiculed for interviewing a 'mad' man, by people who should have known better, 'educated' people. And up to the time when Wayne jumped, I took the banter with a smile. But from then on, it wasn't business as usual. We have to stop ridiculing and abusing the less fortunate among us, and try to understand how people come to be where they are.

In April last year I wrote, "Wayne Saunders has had his fair share of judgement from people who cannot understand his utterances (and behaviour). They are not concerned about his complexities. That's perhaps why the divorced father of three was taken to Bellevue Hospital several times ... . The medication they give him, he claimed, negatively affected him psychologically and physically."

He said, "I was put on psychiatric medication, but I never was taking them, because when I take it ... it make me feel sleepy, make me feel drowsy, make me feel dizzy, make me lose control, can't make a conscious reason, medication mess me up."

In the two articles, he made several claims, including that of being the reincarnation of Emperor Haile Selassie I; The Anointed; a seer.

Demonic forces

He said at one point, his life was controlled by demonic forces, and as such he was driven to commit violent acts. "And the voices, the ones in his head, were now his masters; he went wherever they sent him, obeying their orders without questions, and his life was no longer his," the article read.

In his efforts to be 'the perfect man', he has had many confrontations with people who were not prepared to put up with him. In one of the accompanying pictures, he showed a spot on his leg where he was allegedly shot by a police officer. Since the publication of his story, the dramatic events surrounding his troubled existence have been many. He has been in and out of hospital, shot, beaten, made homeless. Now, in addition to his mental issues, he's physically 'messed up'.

Intelligent

Yet, Wayne Saunders is one of the most intelligent persons I have spoken with in my entire life. But he is different, and I appreciate it. So, when from time to time he called me to tell what was happening to him, I listened, and sometimes made suggestions. But, because there were certain unpleasant elements in his ongoing family saga and his fight to stave off his demons, I chose not to intervene.

Do I regret it? I don't know, but I wish I could have helped the man, I really wish I could have.

So, in all of this, we need to be more sensitive to, and more understanding of, people who are burdened by emotional and mental instability, to help them go through their rough moments, instead of treating them as animals.

The question, therefore, is: Why is it that when we men are in the prime of our lives everybody turns to us for help and support, yet when we are flayed by the vicissitudes of life, everyone turns a blind eye?

No angel

At one stage in his life, Saunders used to fulfil everybody's needs. And he's no angel. But who among us is? Certainly, efforts were made to make him well, but circumstances that militated against him pushed him to the ground, and people just couldn't be bothered with him. Now, who will care for Wayne Saunders, the man who jumped from a KPH window and impaled himself? Who will cry for Wayne? The women who told him to jump?

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