I grew up in a leafy Pennsylvania town where, history records, Thomas Paine, the fiery revolutionary writer, wrote his combustible work, "Common Sense." He was an incendiary force, driven by perhaps the most bold philosophical initiative ever conceived by human beings; that is, the American Democracy. In junior high and then high school, and on many other days outside of schooling, I walked past the grave of James Smith, one of the signers of the Declaration. Questioning is in my blood and my cultural heritage; I just can't turn it off. For years, I was a journalist, and now I am a mental health therapist. The two are intertwined, though that is a discussion for another time. Still, I am of late questioning why there is such superficial reporting by reporters covering mental health. Yet, even as I say that, I realize I am not commenting on the national scene, where reporters/writers like Andrew Solomon win, as he did, prizes like the National Book Award for reporting and writing so incisively on matters of mental health. Read "Noonday Demon: an Atlas of Depression." And yet, locally, there appears to be so little caring or depth in reporting on events that affect the mentally ill. There are exceptions, no doubt. But nearly 40 years after the Kennedy Administration made a bold stroke to deinstitutionalize the mentally ill and give them as much quality of life as possible under the Community Mental Health Act, I am seeing neglect, not only on the part of politicians, as can be expected, but astonishingly by the press. Which brings me back to the topic of questioning: questioning should be in the journalist's DNA. And, yet, there are instances that come to mind, of late, when reporters simply print what community mental health administrators say, and then call it a day. Perhaps no other sector needs vigilant reporting like community mental health. The most vulnerable of the vulnerable are subject to the care of the many understaffed community mental health centers of this country. For the sake of proper care, and for the sake of wisely spending taxpayers' dollars, there is a need for first-rate vigilant reporting on community mental health., its business and clinical transactions and the quality of both. I would be willing to donate money for a nationally recognized award that provided incentive for good reporting at the local level in this area. Enough said for now. Though, I'm sure, Thomas Paine would not leave it at that.