HOSPITAL PHOTO-OP REMINDER OF TRUMP’S LACK OF HUMANITY

HOSPITAL PHOTO-OP REMINDER OF TRUMP’S LACK OF HUMANITY

There’s tone deaf, there’s Marie Antoinette tone deaf, and then there’s Donald Trump.

If anyone needed reminding that the president of the United States is incapable of empathy and compassion, his Sunday afternoon MAGA drive-by photo-op should do the trick.

In a move reminiscent of his controversial photo-op in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church last June, the U.S president briefly left his hospital room at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center   today, and rode a motorcade to greet cheering supporters that lined the street outside the hospital.

While the president’s stunt no doubt delighted MAGA nation, it quickly sparked outrage for its disregard for the health of the Secret Service agents riding in the presidential SUV.

 

But perhaps more telling than his callous disregard for the health and safety of his Secret Service detail — after all he’s been holding mass rallies with no physical distancing and little mask wearing  —  was a comment made in the video (see below) Tweeted to cue up his “walkabout”.

“It’s been a very interesting journey. I learned a lot about COVID… This is the real school. This isn’t the, ‘Let’s read the book school’. And I get it…And it’s a very interesting thing, and I’m going to be letting you know about it”.

To hear Donald Trump talk about the disease like something he just discovered when it has infected more than seven million Americans and claimed the lives of more than 210,000 along the way, should remind everyone that the president of the United States is simply not wired to feel or understand something –no matter how egregious — unless it touches him personally.

The president’s feeble attempt at putting his sputtering campaign back on the tracks served only to showcase his utter lack of basic humanity, decency and concern for the wellbeing of anyone not named Trump.

Having endured a presidency characterized by lies, coverups and obfuscation,  and with 30 days to go before the election Americans should take this latest reality TV episode for what it is: an unvarnished glimpse into the gaping void that is the president’s soul.

 

 

ON GRATITUDE AND MENTAL HEALTH

ON GRATITUDE AND MENTAL HEALTH

This  was written as a message to the staff of the Mental Health Commission of Canada.

As I reflect on my tenure with the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), I want to share some thoughts on the meaning of words – actually, of just one word: gratitude.

As parents, we teach our children that words matter.  As we ready them for the playground or the classroom for the first time, we share some of the lessons we learned about words. For example, we tell them that angry words hurt, and caring words heal.

Of course, we share some of the lessons with them, but not all the lessons.

We don’t tell our children to beware the sting of fulsome flattery or the habit of spreading words like a coat of cheap paint over the cracks in our lives. We don’t tell our children because we know those are lessons for another time — lessons they have to learn on their own, just as we have.

And what parent hasn’t told their children to be grateful?

“Be grateful for the broccoli on your plate — you could be having liver and onions”!

Reflecting on the meaning of gratitude reminded me of a Quebecois expression that sums up this word exquisitely: Quand je me regarde je me désole, quand je me compare je me console. When I look at myself, I feel sorry, when I compare myself [to others], I feel better.

Life teaches us that gratitude is often a very relative, broccoli vs. liver and onions proposition.

But sometimes, life gives us something to be grateful for in the absolute: our children, a loving partner, our health. I am grateful for all of those, and now I am grateful for one more thing: having had the opportunity to work at the Mental Health Commission of Canada.

My gratitude stems from having experienced firsthand that which truly sets MHCC apart from any other organization I have worked for and with: the space it provides for real talk about personal mental health.

Never before have I worked in an environment where it was ok to be vulnerable; where it was ok to speak up about one’s struggles. Never before have I worked in an environment where colleagues proactively reached out to check-in with you, and with whom you could talk about the stressors in your life without fear of judgment or retribution.

As someone who has struggled with mental health issues since high school but had been afraid to acknowledge them until a very few years ago, working in an environment where it is ok not to be ok has been liberating; starting to shed the cloak of self stigma has been transformative and healing.

For that I am grateful.