Songtext An act of kindness Reuben

An act of kindness

I'm trying to make up my mind
Madness, or cruel to be kind?
Your mother was sick or blind when she gave her child away
But what she did she did out of love
She must have meant it as an act of kindness
And having never had a kid myself, I cannot understand the pressures

"You must be sick in the head. You need a hospital bed" she said
"Properly fed" she said
"Or you're gonna wind up dead."

So you were put in the hands of science strangers who understood
Better than mothers could
It was really "for your own good"

See, we find these ways to justify it all
Are they really working?

I'm trying to make up my mind (I'm trying to make up my mind)
I'm trying to make up my mind (I'm trying to make up my mind)

I'm trying to make up my mind
It gets harder every time
I see a baby mother, or think about growing up and having kids
Oh God, she must have done it out of love
I must believe it was an act of kindness
I keep imagining the film 'Girl Interrupted' with less attractive inmates

"All of the things that you feel, they are a fucking disease" they said
"We diagnose it with ease" they said
"There is no hope of a release" they said

So you found yourself inside a prison with no escape
Tied to a gurney with thick red tape
Nursing a wound that is mother-shape

"When can I go back home? I want to make a fucking call
All these pills do is make me sleep."
One-two, one-two, one-two

You wished you could unmake yourself
Become something else to be something awful
"To be smoke and shadow" "Smoke and shadow"
"Smoke and shadow" "Smoke and shadow"
"Smoke and shadow" "Smoke and shadow"
"Smoke and shadow"

I understand the idea that A.D.D. is an imbalance
'Depression', that is an imbalance
Of chemicals it makes sense
But couldn't you argue that everything is?
Joy, fear, anger, sadness?
Can you diagnose love?
Can you diagnose loss?

See, we find these ways
To justify it all
But is it really working?