I returned to work this week. I started a new job this week. I am indeed working this week.
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Title: Psychotherapist
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Location: Community Mental Health Center
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Clients: Teens and Adults
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I'm talking to my friend Mike, explaining that I feel good that I will be counseling poor individuals and families.
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Mike: Language is important, kj. Do you mean low income?
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Me: Yes.
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Mike: You shouldn't say poor. Because many low income people are rich. And other people, like President Bush, are poor.
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Me (often a fast learner, thankfully): You're right, Mike.
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So today I saw four clients and I'm pretty sure this work will offer me both challenge and honor.
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That is actually a gift to myself. I'm tired and pleased......
Oh for heaven's sakes. Mike needs a dose of reality. Poor is poor. President Bush does not have to worry where his next mortgage payment will come, nor how to pay for his children's Yale and UT education. We can use words and give them relative meanings but poor is poor, dumb is dumb, ugly is ugly and stupid is stupid. I am so sick of political correctness. I will poke my eyes first before I will go to a psychotherapist like Mike.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with Ces, Mike should have said Bush is dumb, ugly, and stupid!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new job!
I would not call him dumb - he made his own millions. I would not call him stupid, his grade point average in Yale was a bit higher than John Kerry's. His daughters are better looking than most first families' but he makes the acid in my stomach reflux by letting the gates down south open. So I think I may need to see a psychotherapist after all...ah, I'll poke my eye instead. Do you think you can handle my case? :-)
ReplyDeleteWell, if he is not dumb, ugly and stupid he has no excuses for the bad things he did.
ReplyDeleteLooks like an interesting job. I think I would like your job!
if needed: i think mike's point is that "rich" and "poor" are not only or simply defined by wealth or lack of it....
ReplyDeleteces, please leave your eyes alone. you have to draw and paint.
rm, hahaha! yes!
ces, who are you asking about handling your case? rm? me? what a challenging client you'd be!
sidney, hahaha! yes!
Congrats on a new chapter in your life. Helping people is a great calling.
ReplyDeleteCES making your own millions is probably easier when your Daddy was president and you live in the Good Ol' Boy South, than if you were born a blue collar female in the same GOB South. Somehow we value that (the millions) more than the honest farmer who just makes ends meet. I'm beginning to think we should pay more attention to our own ends and our own lives and let everyone else do the same.
Aaaagh, I am sick of presidential politics already.
KJ, you are going to help a lot of people, poor, low income or otherwise.
Good for your!
ReplyDeleteCongrats!
ahhh...clinical work...there's nothing quite like it, is there?
ReplyDeletei secured an internship and am relocating to new england...send me an email at rubygirl76@gmail.com and i will tell you where..perhaps it's in your neck of the woods!
~ruby
A new challenge, KJ. I am happy for you and wish you all the wisdom you will need for this job. And of course a lot of pleasure while you are doing it. A lot of 'soft sector workers' are a bit er.. afraid about words, facts and figures :-) I agree with Ces that all that political correctness makes a common sense person sick. We have a saying in Holland: 'Man en paard noemen' = Call the man and his horse by their name (rough translation). And I am very happy that we Dutch people don't have to argue about a president hahahaha
ReplyDeleteThe comments are rich under your post KJ! So are you having a job that's both challenging and honourable :)
ReplyDeleteCongrats on a job which I bet you're not poor at. ;)
ReplyDeleteHere I am, Miss CES! :) I'm sorry for not visiting so often. I miss time... But I love your intelligent blog! :) I will try to come more often. :)
ReplyDeleteOH! BTW... My big blog's title is in French, but all the posts are bilingual! I don't post so often on Merlin and Princesse... :) You are welcome there! :)
Congrats for the new job!
OH! (again) I love when there is a little controversy about your USA future ex-President... Poor guy!!!! };-}
Congrats, KJ! It sounds like the perfect job for you ... I know you'll be a rich blessing to your clients. :)
ReplyDeleteReturning to work after illness is a very big deal KJ and such a worthwhile job too! Well done and I wish you everything you wish for yourself with it!
ReplyDeleteAs Mike says, language is really important. I had my own experience earlier this week when telephoning the local school to arrange to go in and speak with the Headmaster about an incident that had occurred and was of some concern. He seemed to believe he was too busy for such a meeting and when I was firm his reponse was:
"x a.m. then? That OK? It will give you an opportunity to get it off your chest and stop you from brooding..."
Needless to say my green eyes flashed and my Celtic nature once stirred flew the the fore. It will be a while before he opens his mouth without thinking again!
Poor and rich in spirit, in experiences, in family and friendhips - cash is not the only measure of wealth, to be sure. I kind of like Mike's style. And he's right about the importance of language - I've worked with lots of women on evening the household work by coaching them to not ask their husbands "to help," which implies that it is the wofe's responsibility, but to talk about how to divide the work fairly so that both are doing their share. And it makes a difference in how the husband's respond.
ReplyDelete(Ha ha to Red Mojo - I think she's on the money with GWB!)
Oh, I got so distracted by the comments that I forgot to say Congratulations!
ReplyDeletedebra kay, i am not sick of presidential politics because i can't wait for a change at the top-- anybody else...
ReplyDeletepieterbie, thanks, should be interesting.
ruby, ooooh, e-mail's coming..
wieneke, i am not one of those soft sector timids: i'm not afraid to talk about any elephant in any room. but in this case, the word "poor" doesn't just mean money. that was my friend mike's point....
anon, you could be a counselor. you reflect back very well!!
thanks chief. i think i am pretty good at it...
merlinprincesse, you are saying hi to ces instead of me!! i want my own hi...
melissa, thank you. i hope so.
miladysa, i was out of work in order to write, not because of illness. now it's time to write and work both. i'm glad you gave that fellow a piece of your mind. he richly deserved it!
cs, hear, here! beautifully said.
I apologise KJ I was on the wrong track.
ReplyDeleteOMYGOD!!!! *blushing* Hello KJ! Hello KJ! Hi KJ! Bonjour KJ!!!! I am all mixed! blah! I knew you were you!!!! Hhehhe! But my brain probably had a short circuit! Sorry, Miss KJ! :) I was talking to you, for sure.... :) But I say HI to CES too... And HI to Red Mojo and Sydney and Debra Key and Pieterbie and Anon and.... What? Stop talking? OK OK... ;o)
ReplyDeleteps: HI KJ!
HI! KJ!!! HOP!
ReplyDeletePfffrt! I will certainly NOT say HI! to anyone here since you are all friends with Anon and you are all going to tell moi SCATCAT!!!
ReplyDeleteMerooowww!
Good on you, KJ (not to mention Mike), and I'm glad it's making you happy. As for rich, that's what these comments are. And as for language, PC or not, it's charged differently for different people so an open-minded and carefully-worded approach to a new situation is best. After all, you're supposed to be counselling them, not alienating them, correct? :0
ReplyDeleteSCAT Mademoiselle Princesse! I am a counsellor KJ, just don't get paid money wise but understand the rich rewards :) This new chapter very exciting for you!!!
ReplyDeleteMy God, I stepped into a liberal minefield. Your hatered and aversion to George Bush blinds your reasoning. Words are words and while we need to be polite and civil, we all know that these clients are poor otherwise they will not be on welfare and medicare or have taxpayers fund their mental health therapy. Try telling someone on welfare that he or she is rich, oh yes, that will really give you credibility. Gobledygook and poke my eye. Of course you will not tell it to their face that they are poor. A bear knows it's a bear and will eat you. It won't endear itself to you just because you called it a teddy bear or God's majestic and beautiful furry creature. My argument was focused on the word poor as a reality. This is why I am aversed to liberals who always speak in tongues. I am sick of it. I am getting out of here good riddance or not. It's a shame it had to happen here. I need a vacation or maybe join the crowd and go to therapy.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteanon! how could i overlook your comment?! i knew you had some counseling blood in those veins! this is probably why all the birds in your yard are so well adjusted, and how you manage to talk the ducks into posing for you.
ReplyDeletei knew it!
Beautiful. I hope it is rewarding for you KJ. Lol, at Mike & Ces's comment. Poor is poor, but many folks are just broke.
ReplyDeleteWhat's nice is that your community offers income-sensitive psychotherapy. Lol, it's not even covered by my insurance!
merlinprincesse, you redeemed yourself quite totally. hello back to you. thank you for visiting and being so extroverted. come back anytime. :)
ReplyDeletelapin poulain, hop! to you too (but you can't fool me)
mademoiselle princesse, i can't help that anon told you to scat! but i still welcome you. we have uncle kitty and kitty-kitty living behind the magic cottage in our yard--do you know either of them?
andrea, hello! funny how words take on their own meaning, huh. i do try to use them thoughtfully.
ces, definitely time for a vacation. try that first, anyway...
oh kj! congratulations!!! you will be so wonderful at this. i look forward to hearing more!
ReplyDeletelots and lots of love,
j.
ps.
i'm sorry that i've been away from your blog so long. this morning i hereby decided to claim my life back and make more time for friends. i realized that, although friends are something that i highly value, i was not taking nearly enough time to nurture the relationships in my life.
yes, so i just wanted you to know that because, even when i haven't been here, i've been thinking about you often.
I kinda understand what CES means... Meroooo! I am NOT a politically correst cat, yaknow!!!! MP finds me irritable... And I need vacations too. blah! *pschtttt*
ReplyDeleteI don't know nothing about kitty-kitty or uncle kitty... MEOW? Don't tell Merlin about them.... He's very very very jealous!
Oh make no mistake, I'm ready for change. I'm all bushed out!
ReplyDeleteLol...after being at work all day, I returned home to find, I believe, this screen still up! If not, here, then I was loitering all day lord knows where! Anyhoo, 'tired & pleased' sounds like Thanksgiving Day or any great day of celebration with those we hold dear, so to find it employment must be a blessing, both ways.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations KJ! You deserve it.
ReplyDeleteMy theory on words and communication is the point being, If I can understand what you are saying then you've succeeded in communicating with me.
I'm just glad there were no charades involved. Ha!