THEY LOBBY FROM THEIR GRAVES
by Andrew Malekoff © 2013
It was not necessary for the slaughter of innocents at Sandy Hook Elementary School to validate what we are reminded of daily - that there is evil in the world. But what it did do is to affirm that if the massacre of six- and seven-year-old children is not off limits, then nothing is.
Immediately after the murderous rampage in Newtown, CT, mental health experts offered tips to speechless parents about how to soothe their children. The advice sounded like this: Be available emotionally, be compassionate, limit media exposure, reassure safety, offer distractions to prevent obsessive worry, monitor for angry outbursts and depression and, if symptoms persist, seek professional help.
Can you imagine how the advice might have sounded if parents spoke from their guts instead of their heads and hearts? The advice might have sounded like this: It’s a cruel world, evil is everywhere, toughen up, watch your back, be vigilant, don’t trust anyone and (for older children) just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that they’re not out to get you.
In the last 30 years, America has mourned at least 61 mass murders. After some time passes, the latest homegrown massacre will become another tombstone in our collective psyche, alongside Columbine, the World Trade Center, the Long Island Railroad, Virginia Tech, Oak Creek, Aurora and more.
We seem always to move forward believing that we have seen the last and worst of it; until the next time. Denial is a healthy defense when the alternative is all-consuming, paralyzing and debilitating fear. We do all we can to protect our children emotionally, as well as physically. And, so we support their denial, using psychological bromides to seal their emotional scars.
The two major talking points since Newtown are preventing gun violence and promoting mental health. On the issue of gun violence, I wholeheartedly support the right to bear arms and taking steps to get certain guns out of uncertain hands. On the issue of mental health care, the chronic under-funding of children's outpatient community-based mental health services in Nassau County and New York State, is a disgrace.
New York State has ensured easy access to community-based mental health care for Medicaid recipients and neglected the needs of underinsured middle class and working poor families. Their answer is always that the marketplace will take care of it. It won’t. They know full well that private practitioners often do not accept private insurance and will not provide the labor-intensive services that licensed community-based mental health agencies do.
The gun lobby is formidable and well-heeled. Children, on the other hand, don’t have a voice until they are in the ground. Children are killed, grieving parents become tireless advocates and laws are passed. Timothy’s Law (mental health parity), Megan’s Law (making information available to the public regarding registered sex offenders) and Katie’s Law (making aggravated vehicular homicide a crime) come to mind.
Think about it. After the Newtown shootings there was not one parent in the United States who was able to escape the tyranny of imagining their child being murdered in their neighborhood school. How many more children will be taken from us before lawmakers devote the same energy and resources it takes to launch their re-election campaigns, to safeguarding our children?
Wake up lawmakers, elected and appointed officials, and government bureaucrats. Our children are suffering and dying, families are struggling and desperate. Support the constitutional right to bear arms, take steps to prevent gun violence and provide adequate funding for community-based mental health centers to support the emotional well-being of all of our children.
