Tosca

I was listening to an explanation of the story of the Tosca opera followed by the opera itself when during Act II there came to me a thought for some reason of a completely new standard of the whole human spectrum of suffering. I looked it up on the web and it really does exist. It is called mental health respite. Basically it is when they pack you off somewhere because they are sick of "caring" about you. Imagine that. You are having a breakdown anyway. Feeling lonely, scared, vulnerable, and isolated. Then someone comes along and tells you they are sending you off for "respite". Puccini must have been quite a guy.