One of the easiest majors in our colleges is Psychology. Schools are graduating legions of psychologists and social workers at every level from simple BA degrees to MAs and even Phds. Added to these are medical doctors who see easier money and less strain in psychiatry. And we need to be thankful, because we all need counseling whenever we stub our toes. They are on staff at schools from day care through kindergarten, grade, middle and high school, as well as at colleges and universities. Corporations hire them too, and no level of government is without them. In addition to staff positions, armies of counselors are on call as independent practitioners, so that there is never a school shooting nor an airplane disaster that doesn't have them in droves, as if they are there waiting. Every article I read concerning bad news includes mention of the immediately available counselors.

     A recent incident, surely a tragedy and not to be made light of, involved two student deaths and 13 injuries from a teen shooter in a southern California. There are less than 300 students in this school, yet all of 150 counselors were assigned at an estimated cost of well over $100,000, to do what parents, teachers, other relatives and close friends should do for nothing but love. Of course these are terribly sad events that leave permanent emotional scars, but my opinion is that parents and teachers have passed the counseling responsibility on to paid so-called grief counselors, who can't possibly feel the pain that loved ones do. Or should.

     I have a friend who works in county government, who has to field the constant telephone calls from an army of freelance councilors, for the hourly fees due them from such services. There are so many, that even with over-kill use, few really earn enough that they can escape "payday to payday" living. That they do not enjoy salaried positions, and don't have a paying practice, seems to mean there are far too many. Yet every graduation class adds to the total faster than attrition can keep up. There is no stigma attached to consulting a "shrink," and it is almost a status symbol to have "one's own." But even with feeling the need for one from anything from a death in the family to a backed up drain, everybody can't afford it. But as long as it is a public institution existing on tax dollars, or a private organization hedging for potential claims in a sue-happy society, the counselors are available and no one seems to care about matching cost with benefit. My opinion of the benefits must be very obvious by now. If I suffer a tragedy I want my mommy, and I will run from the grief chasers as fast as I can.

Redd_K

     Hi...I'm Redd_k, a 20 year-old girly as of this writing, in no way normal, so I remain partially anonymous. Who cares? I live in Redding, CA where I was born, had 12 years of parochial schooling and lack only two classes to earn my AA in business. I do intend to go on for the BA, but no hurry because I am already "positioned" as a partner in my best friend's on-going business as a consultant to cosmetics companies' marketing departments. My writing had always been private until I met MSallthat who encouraged me to put some of it in the internet. I'm not really a poet, but have tried that too. Mostly I write opinionated pieces because I need the outlet, but how much of that deserves to be in the Hold I leave to MS's good judgment.
     One of my quirks is a total fascination with Faerie, so I will submit pieces of that nature as well. I am half Irish and not only believe in the Faeries; I depend on them. My other half is Japanese, and they as a people are pretty weird too, believing in a netherword of their own, so I am a complete and willing victim of the Little People. If you read my stuff, go ahead and put your tongue in your cheek, but I at least am serious about what I write.