Being Misunderstood

Last night on our local BBC news I learnt about Grace Cope, a nineteen-year-old girl from Bedford who was diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome in 2021.

For the past three years, whilst campaigning to reduce the stigma around her neurological condition, her own tics worsened, preventing her taking her A-levels, and forcing her to leave her job as a teaching assistant.

Feeling depressed and hopeless she was helped by writing and playing music: ‘When I play, my tics calm down instantly. Music calms me down… Music is a massive escape.’

Six months ago, Grace was unable to perform in front of anyone. Now she’s lead vocalist on a song, part of a national awareness campaign, raising awareness of Tourette’s syndrome.

Grace sings the old Nina Simone song ‘Don’t let me be misunderstood’:

‘…don’t you know I’m human?
Have thoughts like any other one
Sometimes I find myself alone and regretting
Some foolish thing, some little simple thing I’ve done

I’m just a soul who’s intentions are good
Oh Lord, please, don’t let me be misunderstood.’

Grace’s message about Tourette’s is true about so many misunderstood in our society, the marginalised, the disadvantaged, the powerless, the voiceless…

Whilst Henri Nouwen lived in Rome he noticed people caring for the needy, offering comfort, hope and a smile. ‘Those who are wasting their time with the little, broken, unattractive, sometimes violent people who suffer and for whom no one else seems to care.’ , He identified them as clowns.

Describing a world where big, bold lion tamers or trapeze artists get most of the attention, the humble, foolish clowns choose to live a life of love and service.

The misunderstood clown goes to the misunderstood. It’s the mission of Jesus; as a Jesus-follower I’m called to be a clown.

‘The clowns show us by their ‘useless’ behaviour not simply that many of our preoccupations, worries, tensions and anxieties need a smile, but that we too have white on our faces and that we too are called to clown a little.’