This being Veterans Day, it occurred to me to offer a prayer. Politics aside, the fact is that many men and women have participated in the horrors of combat, and many have suffered in both obvious and not so obvious ways as a result of this participation. I've had the privilege of working with some of these people as their therapist, helping them, along with others who have helped them, to overcome the traumas of war. Sometime decades after the fact. On the level of human wellbeing, there are truly no winners in war.
So I'd like to remember these folks today, and offer a prayer for their happiness and peace. For so many of them, the simple joys, satisfactions and pleasures of every day life that many of us take for granted, are distant and elusive. The burdens they carry, for any number of varying reasons, are at times heavy indeed. Whatever one's political views, I'd like to relate with these people as just people. Brothers and sisters, in need of a genuinely helping hand.
So to you veterans, especially, but by God's grace not only, on this day, may your burdens be light; may your spirits be lifted;, may your wounds be healed; may you experience the peace and the rest you deserve.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Let's Vote For Mental Health For All
We're in challenging times now, or maybe all times are challenging in their own ways. Maybe challenge is simply a part of the human condition.
It still amazes me that in 2008, 2500 years after the earthly presence of the Buddha, 2000 years after the earthly presence of the Christ, 2500 years after Aristotle wrote about psychology, a good hundred years only from the time of Freud, mental health is such a taboo topic for so many people in the United States. I don't know for certain, but I think this stigma may be less in many European countries.
It amazes me too, to tell the truth, that we in the US just elected an African American to the presidency. Six months ago I was saying that neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama had a snowball's chance in Hell of being the Democratic party's nominee. I didn't think we as a country were ready for either a woman or a Black man. I'm delighted to admit that I was wrong.
Of course, after eight years of the tyranny of the Cheney, uh, I mean the Bush Dynasty, maybe it's not so surprising after all. Apparently we really are ready for some healthy change.
Which brings me back to mental health. Therapy is really all about healthy change.
I propose that we continue the momentum of the election and vote individually and collectively for more mental health. I'm prepared to be amazed again and again as more people say "Yes" to helping themselves and their loved ones along the lines of genuine happiness and well being. And remember,
If you give a man a fish, you feed him for today. If you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.
It still amazes me that in 2008, 2500 years after the earthly presence of the Buddha, 2000 years after the earthly presence of the Christ, 2500 years after Aristotle wrote about psychology, a good hundred years only from the time of Freud, mental health is such a taboo topic for so many people in the United States. I don't know for certain, but I think this stigma may be less in many European countries.
It amazes me too, to tell the truth, that we in the US just elected an African American to the presidency. Six months ago I was saying that neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama had a snowball's chance in Hell of being the Democratic party's nominee. I didn't think we as a country were ready for either a woman or a Black man. I'm delighted to admit that I was wrong.
Of course, after eight years of the tyranny of the Cheney, uh, I mean the Bush Dynasty, maybe it's not so surprising after all. Apparently we really are ready for some healthy change.
Which brings me back to mental health. Therapy is really all about healthy change.
I propose that we continue the momentum of the election and vote individually and collectively for more mental health. I'm prepared to be amazed again and again as more people say "Yes" to helping themselves and their loved ones along the lines of genuine happiness and well being. And remember,
If you give a man a fish, you feed him for today. If you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)