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I am a retired English teacher and department head, the mother of three grand mother of four, and have been married to the same man for 52 years. I subscribe to Dr. PM Forni's concept of Civility. I was born in South Philadelphia and grew up in the 'burbs. I love soft pretzels and cheesesteaks, the Phillies, the Eagles, and San Diego. I love being Mom, Aunt Kathy, Nona Kathy, and Teacher. I spend a lot of time in my gardens in the spring and summer, and in the winter I plan what I'm going to plant. I also am an avid reader and photographer.

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Enough Is Enough

Just couldn't publish another post until I finished reading everyone else's (yes, Cheryl, you're not the only one) and made comments where appropriate.  But, now that I've finished here I am.

I woke this morning at 4:30.  Instead of getting up and doing something constructive, I lay there and did some heavy thinking about EVERYTHING, solving the world's problems, writing magnificent posts in my head, cleaning out my closets, and mastering the intricacies of this new computer.  Eventually, I fell back to sleep or the rest of the day would have been a total loss.

I'll say only three things about the tragedy in Arizona:  1)  we do virtually nothing to treat the mentally ill in this country, but seem to go out of our way to facilitate their arming themselves;   2) I'm extremely angry about this, and God forgive me, the mother in me wants to tear that arrogant smile off of his face and then rip him limb from limb;  and 3)  where were his parents that they didn't realize there was a bizarre altar in the back yard, their son was having severe social difficulties, and that he had a 9mm glock???  Even when our kids were 22, and even now when they're older we have a pretty good handle on how they are faring.

And so now we're again left to arise from ashes...

15 comments:

Lena said...

I hear you. Such a tragedy. And it keeps on a happening. How such a mentally ill young man could get a gun so easily is just about the scariest thing going.

Linda said...

The lack of support for the mentally ill in this country saddens me greatly. I have great sympathy for the parents of mentally ill children. Once the child is an adult by law the parents have no rights.

Mental illness is heart wrenching for everyone involved.

Tracy said...

Kathy,
I so agree with you...it is WRONG on so many levels and while I wanted to blog about this situation, I truly couldn't find the words. It is senseless, so unimaginable that innocent people were killed and harmed because of one individual who obviously needed help but was not able to get it. OUr mental health service stink in this country and it's one of the first areas they continue to want to cut and who does it hurt? ALL of us!
I hear your anger and shar in it...

Mage said...

We haven;t seen them yet, but I bet that they are an older couple and are feeling lost right now.

We are doing something for the mentally ill....we are cutting their funding. Oh, we need help with this.

Linda Reeder said...

Your two pronged point #1 really says it for me. We don't treat the mentally ill, but we let them have guns, and multiple clips of 30 rounds of ammunition!

Sweet Virginia Breeze said...

Something is wrong when a person is expelled from college for behavior problems, rejected by the Army, and yet is able to go out and buy a gun. I'm afraid we will continue to have instances of senseless shootings as long as it is so easy to obtain weapons.

Sally Wessely said...

I agree with you Kathy, but unfortunately, as Linda said, parent of adult mentally ill children really have not power. They can't force them into treatment. Many times, they can't even get the police to cooperate. They may have been afraid of him themselves. I don't know what, if anything, these parents did, but I know for sure that they can't force treatment unless they went through some legal hoops.

This entire event in Arizona is just such a tragedy. It is heartbreaking.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi Kathy, This country just doesn't do much to help the mentally ill. The ACLU has done alot of damage in our country --since, in their minds, everyone has a 'right' to be the way they are, and do the things they do.

People are afraid to get involved with these kinds of situations these days. All of the signs were there about this guy in Arizona. SOMEONE (the parents, his teachers, friends, classmates, etc.) should have picked up on his problems, and reported them --- long before he did what he did... BUT--who do you report it to. Who cares???? It's just such a sad situation that had a horrible ending.

Hugs,
Betsy

George said...

I completely agree with you that enough is enough. We don't do enough to help the mentally ill, but at the same time there is little we can do to compel people to get help if they don't ask for it themselves.

Kimberly said...

I can only second agreement with the comments before me and what you've posted. In my humble, first hand experience, opinion the insurance companies make it doubly difficult to get proper treatment by separating those who may prescribe meds from those who may perform counseling. Getting someone who needs help to one, let alone both, is difficult. Very sad state, very sad outcomes. Sometimes, all we feel we can do is pray...and wait...

KiraAJ said...

So tragic :( i woke to the news of what had happened that day and i woke my hubby up and told him what had happened it was just terrible... i can not believe that disgusting smirk on his face...i have tried to keep up with it but we are having some what of a tragedy here in australia...we have friends and family up there and almost all news has been about the flooding in QLD so i would check the local news from back in the states online...I do not think he deserves a trial...he should be put to death...no ifs ands or buts...the gun laws need to be changed and dealt with in the united states...:(

"Professor" M. said...

Funding for the mentally ill was cut back in Reagan's presidency and has never been fully funded since then. Certain things should be funded no matter what. Healthcare for all is one of them, and that most definitely includes mental health! Great post!

Jay said...

We can't use up any public resources to help the mentally ill because we need them to warehouse people in prison who were caught (via an illegal search) with a joint in their car. Gotta have priorities.

And, what really scares me is instead of discussing care for the mentally ill, most "pundits" are talking about bringing back involuntary commitment. Yeah, that isn't something that would be abused at all!

Cheryl said...

You're right on so many levels. That things like this can happen, and do happen, is a complete tragedy. So many innocent lives lost and so many people affected that will never forget this.

It was so nice seeing you today. Sorry it was so rushed in the end.

Mage said...

Yes, and now we cut the budgets further.