Not their fault

Once again, I went away, lost focus, floated in the warm water of the deep South, just to get away from the endless sleet and cold.

I came back to the waining days of full-time practice.  These are more difficult than I had anticipated.  Forty-two years of psychotherapy, and still the world is full of troubles.  Yes, I feel I have been of some benefit to about 60% of of folks who have passed through my threshold and sat nervously telling me things they had never spoken about with anyone.  But the big picture, the changes in the structure of society that we, the idealistic children of the 60's, Peace, Love and Understanding, had hoped the world would move toward, has not happened.

Injustice, insensitivity, exploitation, still, in many cases, take over.  Even if it is a minority of the population, it is that minority that aspires to power and greed, and it makes it all so much more difficult for those who just want to live their own lives in peace and harmony.

The people I saw for treatment this week, the ones who remain as I have been winding down my caseload, are some of my favorite folks.  The folks who were dealt four cards in a game of seven-card-stud.

A woman whose mother was a prostitute and whose father was a drunk.  At the age of six she was told to "play quietly in the other room" while the men came and went. But now, sixty years later, after a long  struggle, filled with many terrible bruises and losses, she has found her way, and has learned that she can enjoy herself, her relationship and her life, despite everything that she has endured.

Another woman, also in her sixties ( so many of my patients are almost as old as I am), who has been a closet lesbian all her life.  It has made her anxious, paranoid, OCD, and ashamed. Suddenly she finds that can relax in this new world that has unexpectedly opened to her. This change is all very difficult for her, and she is amazed and mystified that maybe she has not been such a terrible freak of nature all along.

And me, just a product of my own time, place, family, subculture and genetic potential.  So I still wonder, tritely:

"What's so funny about Peace, Love and Understanding???"

Me, Miners and Goldman Sachs

One of my clients mentioned today that a cousin of his was one of the 25 miners died in the mining accident in West Virginia. He was upset. He was understandably sad and angry.

The implied cause of the accident was that the mining company was a bit sloppy, had been sited for several safety violations, and was basically trying to save money by cutting corners. I also heard on the radio that mining companies try to save millions of dollars in medical expenses by fighting disability claims for black-lung disease and other chronic, degenerative diseases that minors often develop. This seems like a bad thing. Miner's die while other make money.

But who is it making money. Is it he mean, exploitive mining companies, that pay off judges, run the state legislature and extract profits for their shareholders. Yes, it's them. But it is also so many energy companies that use cheap coal to make electricity. Then it is so many other companies who use the cheaper energy in large quantities so they can make products people can afford. It is big-box stores that keep the lights on all the time and sell things cheaper because of cheaper energy. These companies also keep many workers employed, this feeds families and helps the whole economy.

These companies, as well as the energy companies and the mining companies are traded on the stock exchanges. When these companies make a profit, which they can do more easily by cutting costs, such as how much they pay miners, and how much they pay in disability payments, and how much they pay for energy, the shares go up.

Who makes money on the shares? Anyone who owns stock, such as pension funds, mutual funds, and any one who directly or indirectly is saving for retirement. When stocks go up many people have more money. They can spend more money, they can retire more easily and more comfortably (me). Some people can get very rich trading stocks, or derivatives based on stocks (Goldman-Sachs).

So next time you meet a woman who has taught for thirty-five years in Nebraska, and now she is retired and growing tomatoes, tell her to thank the miners who are sick and dying in West Virginia.

People love America because it gives them the opportunity to get very rich. If you are going to live in a society with very rich people, you are going to have to live with many more people who are very poor. How else are people going to get very rich, or even a little rich. It is very difficult to get that way just by going to work every day.

America has been this way since we allowed slavery in the Constitution.

Don't Tread on Me (but you can tread on my miner)