Just as hyperglycemia is but the tip of the iceberg when discussing the physical ravages of diabetes, depression is but the most visible diagnosis of how diabetes affects our minds.

I'm not talking about the temporary states of anxiety or paranoia, lassitude or somnolescence, that accompany our glycemic highs and lows, but the long-term, "you should get psychological help for this" effects of living with chronic disease in general, and diabetes in particular.

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There's something that haunts every person who remembers Life Before Diagnosis. We describe it as spontaneity, carelessness, social acceptability, freedom.

What it boils down to are food and money.

For starters, diabetes robs from us the ability to "just" eat when we are hungry, not-eat when we're not, and not have to weigh, measure, and log every morsel that passes our lips. Then, it robs from us the (admittedly ill-advised) pleasures of the occasional ice-cream sundae or wolfing down half a pizza pie. And because we can't be certain of the foods that we don't prepare ourselves, it robs us of the ability to eat at friends' and relatives' homes, or even casual-dining restaurants.

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Canada and the United States of America both celebrate their "birthdays" on this long weekend. Flags are flown, fireworks launched, parades marched, and we perceive a sort of unity and interallegiance to our governments and our fellow citizens. While the United States celebrates it's independence from England, we also understand the various states' interdependence upon each other in matters of commerce, transportation, and national defense. It would seem to me that the Canadian provinces are similarly interdependent upon each other.

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A couple of weeks ago, Kim over at Texting My Pancreas got together with a few other movers-and-shakers in the diabetes online community to create a project to support and encourage other people with diabetes. Called "You Can Do This", the project includes videos, blog posts, and artwork from people with diabetes, for people with diabetes.

It's sort of a crowdsourced Test! Don't Guess campaign, with two main rallying cries: "You can do this!" and "You are not alone".

It's not all unicorns and glitter.

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Earlier this week, it was announced that the focus of national anger for most of this century had met his Maker, courtesy of the United States military. The TV news showed people reacting by dancing in the streets.

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When one of us succeeds, we all succeed. When one of us is hurt, we all feel pain. And when one of us is belittled at the expense of another, we all lose.

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