Common Unity
Probably the best policy effort for all of our futures would be compassionate emotional education from pre-K all the way through schooling. People need to be taught to dialog, and too much “education” is about keeping still and being led by experts/authorities. People seem to be raised in tightly closed environments where family traumas get to repeat like Greek tragedies without ever being aired to heal. We learn to lick our wounds in the dark and band together out of fear-fed angers against anyone out there. Too many lives are wasted, piled on the heap, left to rot without feeling wanted or alive. All the lonely people who cry silently without seeing all the lonely people crying silently who could become happy kin. We really need to learn to do it better. Have studies been done on peer therapy, like the AA model of sponsors — people brought together with others with whom they can talk anytime 24/7 about what is bothering them, training in active listening, teams so no one person carries too much burden on their time, and to bring in wider voices and ways of showing care, of understanding — kind of like a loving and attentive family? coping centers Long ago, in the high ‘60s, I met a happy couple whose hobby was talking with strangers. They put up signs on billboards to the effect of: Want to talk? Call [their number] between 8 pm and 2 am (or whatever the hours were that they were hanging out at home). That is how I met them. It was a simpler time, even in deepest Manhattan. They didn’t get harassing calls, rather mostly people who just wanted to be heard. Maybe this person had a great idea, or something happened (good or bad) they wanted to share, or they wanted a sounding board to figure things out, or they liked conversation, or they were lonely. Seeing a news report about the problems with accessing psychotherapists these days, it occurred to me that we would all do better to have neighborhood and online coping centers. Places anyone can access to talk, to share emotional content, perhaps to engage in group therapies, art, community projects. If no one needs payment, there are no barriers from insurance or lack of affordability. Expenses could be shared by those who can, because this is a community effort for all of our benefit. Health care professionals who like can not so much donate time as do their part as they see it. The point is, we can all be heard, all share our human burdens of pain and confusion and our human resources of being listeners, growing a healthier future of companionship instead isolating into hate.