For most of his life, mental illness and trauma weren’t discussed. Not in the way he is now able to name it. Back then, if someone was depressed, they were told it was a bad mood. To fix the depression, that person only needed to go outside and play or be a man. There was an unsaid expectation for that person to walk it off, as everyone else did with the things that tormented them. People with mental health challenges were people to stay away from or to pity. Rodney didn’t feel a lot of empathy for people like his aunt.
