Important Questions Concerning Gobbledygook And Cow Pies
Members of the United States House of Representatives are aiming [No pun intended.] to introduce new legislation to prevent gun violence-associated deaths nationwide.
Under the innovative proposal, as part of a nationwide draft, every tenth high school graduate will be required to train in and practice heart transplant surgery and the hearts of gun violence victims, regardless of age, will be transplanted into gun owners – without regard to criminal or mental health histories.
This follows a declaration of the new Speaker of the House regarding the almost daily occurrence of mass shootings in the United States: “The problem is the human heart. It’s not guns.”
The Speaker’s declaration marks a radical departure for politicos’ popular “mental health” blaming.
Whether they offer their “thoughts and prayers” and blame the human heart or mental health, do not hold your breath waiting for meaningful legislation.
Responsibly, we offer one example:
His plan was simple:
Kill.
As many doctors, nurses, administrators and employees as possible.
Killing, he believed, would be a well-deserved punishment for the way he had been treated.
[Everyone who might identify him through my telling is now dead – all, by the grace of God, of natural causes and many years ago. I’m not breaking any professional confidences. But thirty-plus years later, his story offers important lessons.]
Sean (a completely made-up name) was one of the first employees hired, even as the hospital was still under construction, and he knew every nook and cranny of the compound. A skilled journeyman, married, with only a basic education, he was a quintessential reflection of “the Greatest Generation,” drawing his identity through marriage, family, church, and work.
When arthritis, on-the-job injuries and the wear-and-tear of age forced retirement, he was lost. Beyond lost.
He filled his days sitting in the hospital parking lot. Observing - who entered and left; when; where they parked; the doors they used. Planning – the shooting.
So many years later, I suspect he was referred to me through my folks or another member of their square-dance club.
But I remember the urgency I felt: This man is going to kill someone, maybe many.
Initially, we met mid-morning and almost daily - interrupting decades of his Monday-to-Friday schedule and making it more difficult for Sean to find a parking space. There was little real talking. (Too many of the Greatest Generation never talked about their feelings and their secrets were buried with them.) I was a distraction, allowing weeks and months to pass as rage subsided to anger and anger gave way to the passage of time.
Sean wasn’t clinically depressed or anxious; he did not meet the criteria for any valid mental health diagnosis. Like many of his era, he’d have been out the door in an instant at the mere suggestion of medication. He was simply lost and angry, looking for targets and something to live for.
It’s not an exaggeration to say we met hundred of times.
Why tell Sean’s story – even in this brief format?
Because, at least initially, he might have become South Florida’s first mass killer.
Because, pre-Halloween U.S. had at least 565 mass shootings - in which at least four victims are shot or killed - in 2023, according to Gun Violence Archive [www.gunviolencearchive.org].
Because politicians glibly pass off the now daily occurrence of mass shootings and murders as a “mental health problem” and then do nothing about genuinely addressing the nation’s mental health crises.
Mental health specialists don’t spring up like weeds in an untended garden. And no one moves from serious mental health issues to wellness overnight. PsychCentral.com (a pretty good and – we think – balanced site, associated with Healthlinemedia.com) makes the point that the movement from emotional/mental health struggles and crises to a happier and healthier emotional/mental life is “a process” and “this process is a marathon, not a sprint.”
Keep in mind the marathon analogy.
In 2023, more than 30,000 runners competed in the Boston Marathon; more than 47,000 completed the annual runs in Chicago and New York.
Now, think of everything demanded by running a marathon – whether putting one foot in front of another for months or years of training or administratively:
Begin with something simple: Someone must process 47,000 applications, and assign and mailout runners’ numbers (including the little safety pins they use to attach numbers to their shirts or shorts)
Hundreds (maybe thousands for a marathon) of road cones – those yellow or red rubber dealies – and barricades don’t just magically move into place before the race and evaporate when the last runner has passed.
47,000 runners will consume thousands of gallons of water that must be poured into paper or plastic cups available at every mile marker and the finish line and passed to runners who barely slow down and don’t stop. And someone has to recruit the volunteer pourers and passers.
Emergency medical tents along the course and at the finish line and must be staffed by doctors, nurses and Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and prepped with oxygen, defibrillators and ambulances.
At the finish line, runners consume massive quantities of bananas and oranges, bagels and water and more water. All that fruit and all those bagels don’t prep themselves.
Buses to return runners back to the starting line after the race.
Street closures for the Sunday, October 8 Chicago marathon began on Wednesday morning and some weren’t opened until the morning after the race. The Federal Aviation Administration closed airspace over the racecourse from 7:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.
And for runners, especially the most popular events (or our personal favorite run – the Seven Mile Bridge Race in the Florida Keys), it ain’t cheap! Airfare. Hotel reservations close to the race site. [Nobody wants a hotel room so far from the starting line that you must get up at three in the morning to be at the starting line at 6:00 or 6:30. If you’re there at 7:00, you might as well turn around and go back to sleep.] At least a couple of meals. [Pasta the night before a race is almost a biblical command.] And don’t forget shoes! Consider the cost of running shoes for a competitive marathoner akin to tuition at an Ivy League college.
The Education Data Initiative [www.Educationdata.org] is self-described as “a small team of researchers with a mission to collect data and statistics about the U.S. education system and organize them in an accessible, comprehensive fashion.” In a September 6, 2023 post, EDI outlined the cost of college educations. Among the highlights of their report:
The average in-state student attending a public 4-year institution spends $26,027 for one academic year or more than $104,108 over four years.
The average cost of in-state tuition alone is $9,678; out-of-state tuition averages $27,091 or over $108,364 over four years.
The average private, nonprofit university student spends a total of $55,840 per academic year living on campus, $38,768 of it on tuition and fees; the four-year total is $223,360.
Considering student loan interest and loss of income, the ultimate cost of a bachelor’s degree can exceed $500,000.
While four years is the traditional timeline for completing a bachelor’s degree, only 40 percent of bachelor’s degree-seeking students graduate within that time.
Student borrowers pay an average of $2,186 in interest on student loans each year, and the average student borrower spends roughly 20 years paying off their loans,
EDI also noted that the tuition for the top ten “Most Expensive 4-Year Private Nonprofit Universities” – from least, University of Chicago, to most expensive – Columbia University in NYC – range from $60,552 to $61,671. And that’s just tuition.
And that ain’t the bad news.
Consider (and we will give these statistics in order of two- and then four-year programs):
40 and 33 percent of students could not afford balanced meals.
34 and 23 percent ran out of food.
32 and 24 percent skipped meals due to lack of food.
17 and 12 percent lost weight due to lack of food.
10 and 6 percent went one-or-more days without eating for lack of food.
It gets worse.
Essentially, a bachelor’s degree in psychology is worthless when it comes to actually working as a counselor or (treating clients/patients) mental health professionals.
There’s
Licensed Clinical Social Workers, skilled mental health professionals who assess, diagnose and counsel clients and serve a broad population through general counseling services. They must earn a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree and pass the LCSW licensure exam and may need to complete additional coursework and clinical hours according to the requirements of their respective state.
The American Psychological Association (APA) recognizes three distinct categories of doctoral programs: clinical, counseling and school psychology.
Clinical Psychology – typically a Ph.D. – emphasizes compiling and analyzing research data about people and behaviors.
Counseling Psychology - generally a Psy.D. – is most often the terminal degree for professionals who will do counseling in community settings or private practice.
School psychologists explore issues of child and adolescent mental/emotional development.
After two or three years of post-bachelor’s degree academic work, including a number of “practicum” courses in which the future counselor works with clients/patients under the supervision of more experienced professionals, many graduate programs require an extensive research paper, which can require six months to more than two years (almost exclusively full time), or a doctoral dissertation, which can require two or more years (again, almost fulltime). [FULL DISCLOSURE: Father Flynn’s dissertation demanded two full years of forty-plus hours a week and the last six months demanded sixty to eighty hours a week.]
If all of that is not enough bad news, consider:
After two or three years of post-undergraduate classes and two fistfuls of practica, a research paper or dissertation, many programs require a full-year residency in an APA accredited hospital or other mental health facility. Thankfully, many residencies offer some pay.
Remember: Graduate courses – Master’s and doctoral – cost significantly more than undergraduate programs and students working on research papers and doctoral dissertations must pay some tuition costs. In addition, most scholarships evaporate after students complete their undergraduate degrees.
So, we’d like to offer some suggestions for the next time a politician speaks of America’s mass shootings and massacres in grade schools and high schools and says, “The problem is the human heart. It’s not guns” or “the result of mental health problems.”
Ask what they are doing to mandate an increase in well-trained cardiac transplant surgeons.
Ask what they are doing to help ease the financial costs of becoming a well-trained and licensed mental help specialist who will treat “the problem” that “is not guns.”
Ask how many counselors in this country can spend sixty to ninety minutes a day five days a week for almost two years with the next Sean to prevent the next mass murder.
And, if they start with “thoughts and prayers” and pious gobbledygook and cow pies, ask if they understand the words of Jesus in Matthew 16:24-26:
“What will it profit a man
if he gains the whole world and forfeits his immortal soul?
Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”
Ask “Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. Politician, are you willing to work toward and vote for meaningful gun legislation and to meaningfully fund education for mental health or is getting reelected just too important to you?”