Lately Tom Cruise has been running his mouth about psychiatry, specifically stimulants and anti-depressants. See, according to Tom he was diagnosed as AD/HD and dyslexic, but has now realized that psychiatry is a crock and the principles of Scientology are all he needs to control both conditions. America was able to witness just how well-controlled Tom’s ADHD is when he was recently on the Oprah Winfrey show. His jumping on the couch was a product of his overwhelming love for someone he just met (which is not in the least impulsive), and not due to hyperactivity (because Scientology cured his ADHD). And now he has decided that he needs to enlighten all the rest of us poor slobs who are just trying to make it on a handful of uppers to get going in the morning and a handful of downers to put us to sleep at night (to paraphrase Tom). Tom is going to fix all that.
I am glad that Tom feels at peace with his learning disorders. I wish the path for the rest of us was that easy. If I was making $5 gazillion per movie, I might feel a whole lot better about my life, too. Who needs to worry about ADD when you can just pay people to keep up with everything for you? He doesn’t have to worry about leaving his leather coat at a restaurant, because he can just go out and buy another. Lost track of your bank account and bounced a check? No worries for Tom. He can just dip a little further into his bottomless pit of money.
Okay, so maybe I’m a little bitter. But living with undiagnosed ADD most of my life, I think I earned the right to bitch a bit. When I was finally diagnosed with ADD I went through a sort of mourning. I think I always thought that I'd get my act together; if I could just get organized that everything else would fall into place and then I'd be happy and everyone would be happy with me and we all join hands and sing “Kum-ba-yah”. But then here was this doctor telling me that I would never really get my act together, and that was okay, but that I needed to learn to live in this constant state of feeling one step behind or to the side or in front of everyone else. That I would always be listening to a different radio station than most of the world and that it was okay, but I needed to decide and learn for myself that it was okay. And that made me sad and angry and frustrated.
But slowly I've learned that it is okay. And people who think I'm weird or abrupt or flaky just need to learn to see the person and not judge on appearances. It's still hard, but I've learned where my weaker spots are and try to compensate. And I try to appreciate that it is a good thing that I look at things from a different vantage point - even when people in a meeting look at me cock-eyed and say things like, “Well, that’s certainly an interesting perspective”. Sometimes I still feel buried under all the things I’ve forgotten to do or lost or broken. I really try to not use it as an excuse, but more as a reminder to people that if you ask me to do something, make sure you seen me write it down.
So I just want to tell Tom to be a little more sympathic. Just because you were fortunate enough to find a career where your ADHD is actually an asset doesn’t mean the rest of us are misguided drug addicts. Try to look past your own nose every once in a while.
