I Just Don't Get It

I'm a total wreck today.

The SLC shooting in Trolley Square, the Astronaut gone stalker, my friends/family dealing with depression.

The world has always had to deal (or not) with mental health: melancholy, histronics, lunatics, nutcases, crazies, etc. I'm overhearing conversations all day today about the massacre in SLC - how "at least the gunman is dead", "the signs are always there, no one did anything about it", etc. The boy is a son, his family is greiving for him and for his victims. The astronaut lady is a big deal here in Utah. I can't decide if the problem is with her stalking a married man or if the real underlying issue is that this state thinks a "she" shouldn't have been an astronaut and she proved it out by having (or wanting) an affair.

I'm sick of the cheap words. Many are coming from people with their own quirks and idiosyncracies. Mental health is an oxymoron in the U.S. Healthcare coverage doesn't even scratch the surface (three visits my ass).

My daughter works with the mentally ill in a prison. She teaches them how to manage their illness and meds, giving them coping/living skills for their incarceration setting or when they are back out in the world. Now why can't that be an offering for the folks "out here" who are 10 seconds away from inflicting injury upon someone else whether it be an act of violence or personal harm?

I just don't get it.