Let’s start the conversation, where do you go when you want to see some good news? Do you check out a site like Upworthy.com? Do you follow someone making fun content or beautiful art on social media? Do you find fun music on your favorite streaming app? What can we do to bring more kindness into our newsfeeds?
Where do you go to find the good in this world?
Who knows, maybe in the current system there really was no hope for Jordan and many like him. That’s hardly a reason to celebrate his death and the person who killed him. It should be a wake-up call about how poor our current system is and a push for systemic change. Unfortunately, that’s a serious discussion that too many people in politics are not interested in having.
I feel like this is something that has gotten continuously worse over the years too. Kids who never get to just play, but are fully booked with one after-school activity after another. Teens are under constant pressure to spend their time doing things that look good on college applications. College-aged young adults are about filling out the resume or getting into the best graduate school programs, only to graduate into jobs that expect them to always be on call, to learn and grow themselves on their own time, all while social media culture tells them they should also have a side-hustle or three.
Having fun is time that could be spent on any of these accomplishments.
I’d flip that around. What’s the point of all of those accomplishments if you never have any fun?
This is where the community comes in. Kids with strong connections to safe adults are less likely to be targeted and more likely to tell if they are. LGBTQ kids are less likely to struggle with suicidal ideation when they have adults who accept them as they are. Kids dealing with anxiety and depression have better outcomes when they have safe adults to talk through their emotions with, who can support them through difficult times. I’ve talked endlessly about the need for strong relationships with parents as the best preventive medicine we have for keeping children safe and supported. I’ve also talked, on my other site, about the importance of work-life balance and inclusivity when it comes to the workplace for parents. That’s what being the community that families need to succeed includes.
That’s the question we need to ask ourselves. Great, the Dodgers are keeping him under “contract” so he has medical coverage that helps him as an individual. What happens to everyone else in the same boat? Who’s getting them treatment and the coverage to pay for it?
Both articles tell the stories of people who can’t get the mental healthcare they need, and both dig into some of the political decisions that have caused this. Both also demonstrate how complicated the issue is and how much damage is being done behind the scenes by some of the same leaders who claim to support mental health.
They don’t. There are a lot of political and industry leaders who benefit from the status quo. Many people are also left behind due to a lack of affordable care. Those patients, their families, loved ones, and society pay the price when mental healthcare is lacking. It doesn’t have to be this way. It will take more than words to fix it.
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