Attack of the Counselors

There are many times in life when we are struck by grief and sadness. The loss of family, friends or even prominent figures such as Heath Ledger can trigger such emotions. Ultimately though, each person needs to find their own way of dealing with this grief so that they can move on with their life and continue with the business of living. This process can take months or even years and is a deeply personal journey that cannot be fitted into a one size fits all approach.

On a personal note, I have experienced loss of both immediate family and close relatives. Some of the issues surrounding these linger to this day and the grief I experienced remains unresolved. Moreover, following the murder/suicide of professional wrestler Chris Benoit, I experienced a profound sense of grief that lingered with me for many months. During that time I felt numb and was visibly upset and emotional when news reports and print articles appeared. This numbness led to an almost obsessive collection and following of the events. Why? Perhaps I needed to make sense of the events within myself in order to continue living. By finding out all I could about this man, his life and ultimately his death maybe I could justify how one of the people I most admired in the industry could so coldly end both his family and his own life. For me this was a real and saddening time and something that I can only now begin to look back on with some sense of calm.

What angers me though is the crap we get with events such as the recent death of the pilot in Sydney. A hero by all accounts, he flew his plane away from crowded areas including schools so that there was minimal loss of life. This man is a hero and his family along with that of his passenger will be experiencing a deep sense of grief at this time. These people deserve to be in our prayers and need all the support they can get to help them continue on. Who doesn’t need help are the children at the school next to where he crashed.

Yes, you heard me correctly. The children at the school at which he DIDN’T CRASH and at which NOBODY DIED as a result of the accident don’t need counseling. In fact, they don’t need any special attention whatsoever. They all lived and should get on with their lives. Instead we have the crock of shit counselors who seem to make a living from turning up at large public gatherings as soon as something remotely “traumatic” occurs. These people do nothing to help or aid these people; instead they encourage them to express grief for events that did not result in any of them losing their lives. The moronic idiots who decided they should be present in the first place should be fired for incompetence and stupidity. All they are doing is encouraging the students to experience grief that is unnecessary and harmful.

Resilience is a word that is not used often enough at such times. Rather than teach our kids to fall to pieces for an accident that didn’t occur to them and which none of their school friends died, the school leaders should instead encourage them to show resilience to continue on with schooling and move past the tragic events. This is not to ignore the accident or make it trivial: this IS a tragic event but for the PILOT and his PASSENGER not the unharmed and unaffected school children.

Its time Australia stopped its obsession with grief counselors that encourage our kid to fall to pieces when something mildly bad happens to them. We should be teaching our kids resilience so that they can overcome real tragedies in life’s journey when they actually occur. The death of the pilot was sad and tragic but lets remember who for.