Saturday, July 25, 2015

We the Sheeple…or

Warning: Rant ahead…

“The strongest continuous thread in America's political tradition is skepticism about government.” ~ George Will 


For me there is no longer a right or a left in government. There is only pro human/humane and anti human/humane. With the latter in the majority.
 The oppressiveness of the climate today is astounding to me.

Keep our country divided. Keep people fighting for individual interest by attacking one another. Keep our people in debt. Let us have the following:

The privileged vs. the not so privileged.
Majority vs. Minority
Religion vs. Religion vs. Non-religion

People are fighting the minimum wage increase, instead of fighting for it across the board. How ironic. One cannot live on minimum wage, so go get an education they say. So we got an education to get more than a minimum wage job. Now we have a mortgage size student loan at an interest rate higher than a bank. We are brainwashed in this country to believe we are lucky to have a minimum wage job…or two, because no one can live on one. Be thankful you at least have that, they say. The minimum wage today does not keep up with inflation.  Up to 1996 the minimum wage was equal to inflation with $4.75 equaling $4.75 and todays $7.25 equaling $4.82 (http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0774473.html). The minimum wage average has decreased in value 12.1% from 1967 to 2011(http://stateofworkingamerica.org/chart/swa-wages-table-4-39-minimum-wage-1960-2011/).

So the government needs its money, so let us have the sheeple fight each other. Then we can continue to pull the wool over their eyes.



My Personal View of Our Helping System Today



Veritably, this is my sentiment on any area pervasively intertwined with or reliant on government. Thus, my belief is that this country is pathologically motivated, our modern culture  indoctrinating us to surrender our health, inner wisdom, our homage to the earth and our sanity, to the corporate conglomerate we naively call a democracy.We take no responsibility for what happens to us once we step into a medical facility, blindly handing over our power and trust to a medical professional, themselves only a cog in the machine of corporate capitalism. 
    Our cultural model is to medicate and label the majority of the population to tolerate living in a toxic society. If in doubt, remember insurance companies and government agencies require a mental disorder diagnosis for payment of services. Additionally, big pharmaceutical companies own our medical system and profit from the distribution of the plethora of drugs for all that ails us. To further this imposition, there must be specific treatment plans with specific goals to follow the “fix” for the diagnosis in the event of an audit. Bureaucratic protocol becomes the priority in a paper work catch up game that requires increased hours, inhibiting the imagination and direction the therapist may need or want to go. Consequently, it has been surreptitiously suggested altering clinical notes in lieu of the therapy that is being practiced. 
    Perhaps we need to question, where the labor laws are for our counseling system. Credential bias continues to loom large as an economic and occupational threat to members of the counseling profession. A graduate degree and professional license should offer more income potential, not wages akin to a GED. A graduate program requires at least two years of sacrifice, another two years paid supervision or clinical wages, add a bachelors degree for a chance at a masters, and of course the undeniable hard work. Let us not forget an unpaid internship, a part-time job, and a full-time course load. I will be making mortgage payments on my graduate and undergraduate school loans, with a career that pays less than your average bartender. My concern is if this will eventually undermine the morale of all of us who belong to this honorable and much needed profession. 

     Our system needs to be remedied for the sake of our humanity and our planet. By virtue of our societal structure, people need our services. Hence our culture is inundated with an array of therapies, from talk therapy to biofeedback to mindfulness walks in nature. Hundreds upon hundreds of helping professionals are at our disposal. I appreciate the expanse of originality and uniqueness tailored to alleviating the egocentric angst we live today. My contribution to the healing of spiritual brokenness must be on a personal level and I am grateful for the access to the path I have chosen.  Aside from my obvious cynicism above, I am experiencing everyday the goodness in people, finding more hopeful connections than ever before. When Carl Rogers is looking at the world, it is with pessimism, but when he sees people, he sees them with optimism (1951). My conditional view of the world has yet to overshadow my unconditional positive regard for the person.