Houston America…………We have a problem!

By…Erik Schuman

 

Real quick. Before I start this entry, the NCAA Basketball Tourney begins today. So, just like I did with the NFL Playoffs I am going to post my picks here for every game. And just like in the NFL, I expect to get every game right (As we all saw: Green Bay beat Tennessee in the Super Bowl – just like I said would happen!):

**Gonzaga, Boise, UConn, Vermont, Alabama, Texas Tech, Michigan State, Duke (This crushes me because Duke is playing my Alma Mater, Cal State Fullerton, and as much as I would love to see us pull the shocking upset and end “Coach K’s” career – I just can’t see it happening. Sadly), Baylor, UNC, Indiana, UCLA, Va. Tech, Purdue, Murray State, Kentucky, Arizona, TCU, UAB, UT Chattanooga, Michigan, Tennessee, Loyola, Villanova, Kansas, Creighton, Iowa, Providence, Iowa State, Colgate, Miami, Auburn.

**Gonzaga, UConn, Texas Tech, Duke, Baylor, Indiana, Purdue, Kentucky, Arizona, UT Chattanooga, Michigan, Villanova, Kansas, Iowa, Colgate, Auburn.

**Gonzaga, Duke, Baylor, Kentucky, Arizona, Villanova, Kansas, Auburn.

**Kentucky, Kansas, Arizona, Gonzaga

**Kentucky. Kansas

**Kentucky

 

“Houston, we have a problem” is a popular but slightly erroneous quotation from the radio communications between Apollo13 Jack Swigert, Jim Lovell, and the NASA Mission Control during the Apollo 13 spaceflight in 1970, as the astronauts communicated their discovery of the explosion that crippled their spacecraft to mission control. The words actually spoken, initially by Swigert, were "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here". After being prompted to repeat the transmission, this time Lovell responded with "Ah, Houston, we've had a problem.” Since then, the phrase "Houston, we have a problem" has become popular, being used to account, informally, the emergence of an unforeseen problem and usually, a very big one at that.

Jim Lovell will turn 93 in a week – March 25. Happy Birthday, Jim! Hope you don’t mind if I slightly alter your quote for one of my own – somewhere along the same lines as yours:

• ·       “America, we have a problem!”

I know most reading this will agree. The only “problem” is right now we have many problems:

• ·             Housing crisis
• ·             Gas prices
• ·             Labor shortage
• ·             Democrats and Republicans caring more about party interests than America!
• ·             Russia/Ukraine

 I could list many more but won’t because I don’t want to make this “War and Peace” length.

The one problem I did not list, and the one that might be the most damaging/problematic is:

• ·         Mental Health

 

And of all the problems listed, and those I did not, the mental health problem in this country is one that we spend the least amount of time and money dealing with and because of it, might be the most significant and damaging one we have.

The last few years I have spent a considerable time on the road doing a variety of projects, mostly work-related. I have covered a large portion of Los Angeles and Orange County. My travels also took me to Tucson, Arizona and the Susanville, California area (Susanville is in Lassen County – around 80ish miles West of Reno).

These past few years what I have seen is FLAT OUT SCARY! I have seen more people than I can count in serious need of help for their mental health issues, and I know they are not getting it and never will.

I have seen people representing all different sex, race, skin color, age, height, body type and so much more, leaving me shaking my head at just how sad it is to see people who are breathing, but for all intents and purposes, dead. Brain dead!

In the Summer, Victoria, British Columbia, is flat-out one of the most beautiful places in the world. If you have been there, you know I am right. If not, go visit and see I am right. My family had a reunion there in August 2016. We arrived on a Thursday and left on a Sunday. That least day I woke up early so I could take a walk around town one last time.

While walking an elderly woman was in a wheelchair. She asked if I could push/walk her a few blocks away to some place she wanted to go. I had the time, so I gladly did it. I walked her to a place where the less-fortunate gathered, my guess is to get a hot meal and have a place to gather their thoughts and all. The walk was about 15 minutes and we spoke along the way. She could not have been a nicer, sweeter person to deal with, if she tried. I dropped her off after she said all was good. I started to walk back to the main area of town when I looked across the street. I wish I had never done that!

We are over five years removed from my time in Canada and what I saw is not only fresh in my mind but will be. FOREVER! I saw some guy, maybe 25-years-old but less than 30, “walking” in a small circle, maybe no more than four-feet in diameter. He was on the balls of his feet and just “spinning” around in a circle. Legally – he was alive. Clinically – he was not. I have no idea if he is still breathing today. My guess is he is not. I hope this doesn’t come out wrong but if he is not, he is better off for it. I don’t know how or why he was like that. I don’t know if it was because of drugs or an accident or any of a million other reasons. All I do know is this kid was in serious need of help with his mental health and he was not getting it. IN CANADA! 

I know this guy’s issues might not be something a mental health expert could solve. Now. I do not know if maybe a few years earlier it would have been?

When I worked for the United States Census Bureau, I travelled through my local area and once we “cleaned it out” I was offered the opportunity to travel to other areas, ones that were desperate to have enumerators (what we were called) go door-to-door to try and get the census done for people who had yet to do so. I laugh at it now, but during the handful of months I did it I had well over a dozen people threaten to call the police on me for trespassing. Seriously! I would counter back at them by saying I was not trespassing but if they wanted to call the cops here was the number, and I gave it to them. A handful, or so, times I had people tell me to get off their property or they were going to shoot me. I wasn’t too worried since their BAC was closer to 1.00 than 0.00 and the odds of them being able to pick out which one was me when they saw at least three of me was almost non-existent.

Just like in Victoria, I saw things in Tucson I was not quite ready to see or handle. One of my bosses in Tucson told us in the very first meeting we had how one area we were going to be sent to was rather “rough” - an area known as "Three Points." He said our lives would in no way be in danger but to keep our eyes and ears open and don’t take anything for granted. We laughed when he said this. He was 100% right. On my first day there, Labor Day, it was around 6:30 pm. I was at some residence. The sun was in the process of setting. There was still plenty of light but in about 30 minutes it would be dark. The woman I spoke to asked if I was leaving the are soon. I said I was. She said that was a good idea adding, "You don't want to be here when it gets dark." I was not expecting to hear that. i was going to do a few more places but got in my car for the 40-minute drive back to my hotel making sure I was on the freeway by the time darkness fell.

My boss said these people have nothing and when they die their lives will actually improve adding their "401k's" were more like ".401k's" because they had so little to exist on. Don't believe me? Here are some pictures from that area (I do want to add one last thing about Tucson and some of the rough areas: For many of these people the value of their residence was less - FAR LESS - than the TAX BILL those living in expensive homes in SoCal paid every year. And this was before housing prices shot through the roof. BUT - the people of Tucson could not have been nicer had they tried. What they lacked in money they made up for in all-around kindness as opposed to the people in my local area who had expensive homes and could not have been bigger jackasses if they tried):

This is what is left from a trailer people called home:

On the left is a place people formerly lived in - on the right that place is currently occupied:

This is the "road" the people living there have. Needless to say trucks and off-road like vehicles are a must for this place. I did not have a car like that. I had something similar to a Toyota Corolla. I drove swerving side-to-side to keep from getting stuck but one day I did and I might still be there if not for a husband and wife tandem that saw me and helped get me out. How'd ya like to drive on this for 365 days!

Once again, I saw people who were in desperate need of any kind of mental health. Once again, I saw people who won’t be getting it any time soon. Or ever! Same with Susanville. There it might have been even worse since Lassen County is a very wide-open area and once you get outside of Susanville there are many areas where your next-door neighbor might be at least a mile away.

Last year I did some work in Santa Ana. I am still shaking my head at people who looked to be normal people. But once they opened their mouth and started talking, you could clearly see they were “not all there.” I am now doing work in the Los Angeles area and here it is even scarier.

I am seeing people who literally have NOTHING! They might have the clothes on their back, but not much else and the clothes they wear and tattered and torn. I have seen people as young as their early-30s to people much older spending their day spewing all sorts of crazy rhetoric. I hear them say how the government is out to kill us all and how society is evil. Just the other day I had someone tell me the World is coming to an end on March 22. He said something about it being in the Scriptures and how he hoped it wouldn’t happen, but he fully expects it to take place.

While we tend to think only the less-fortunate have mental health issues, the reality of it is the complete opposite.

Naomi Osaka is one of the best tennis players in the world. She is a four-time Grand Slam singles champion, winning both the U.S. Open and Australian Open twice. After winning her first Aussie Open in 2019 she became the #1 ranked player. She has won over $20-million in prize money and far more from endorsements.

Naomi Osaka is now ranked closer to #100 then #1. For those who follow the sport you know what she is going through. For those who don't: Right now a tennis court is the last place on the planet Osaka should be. 

Less than a week ago, Osaka was playing a tournament in Indian Wells (somewhat near Palm Springs), CA. During the match some loser started to heckle her, screaming "You suck." As expected. Osaka did not react well and was brought to tears. She lost the match and after it spoke to the fans there. Does this look like someone who should be playing tennis?

I, agree. NO! IT! DOES! NOT! I am not here to blame Osaka in any way at all. I am here to say mental health issues do not just affect those on the lower end of society. It affects everyone. Osaka has had to withdraw from many tournaments because of her issues. Not only am I not here to rip her for it - I am here to praise her and say she did the right thing in withdrawing. I care more about Naomi Osaka the person than the athlete. I would rather see her never play tennis again and lead a long, healthy, happy, prosperous life than to go back on the court and see what we saw happen in Indian Wells. By the way, Osaka's next birthday is on October 16. She will be 25. Just think about what you were doing before you turned 25. For most of us we never had the issue Osaka has. Some might have a similar issue now - albeit at an age where we are old enough to be her parent. My nephew will be 25 just before Christmas. If he had  the same issues as Osaka and someone heckled him like what happened at Indian Wells I would have found that person and pummeled them into submission. I don't care if it was a female, as was the case in the video. I would have been arrested for beating the crap out of her and would have been more upset with myself if I did not do it rather than if I did.

The mental health problem we have is only going to get worse. Covid-19 caused some issues but the lack of funding to help those who need it is even worse. Government, on all levels, only has so much money to spread around to the areas that need it. It is hard for a city or state to say they are allocating, say, $10 million to help with mental health issues when odds are the residents of the area will say they need it more for things that directly affect them.

These residents are 100% right. They do need the money spent in other areas. But failing to provide help to those who need it will only result in news stories we seemingly read about every day: Someone who needed help with their mental health did not get it. Instead, they somehow got access to a gun and by the time all was said-and-done they murdered a significant number of innocent people. The outrage that ensues brings a short-lived attention to the problem. For a few days and then people forget about it. Until it happens again. And again. And again. And…. How many times have we read about an estranged spouse getting a gun and by the time it is unloaded all members of their family are dead? Including the shooter, who committed the murder-suicide crime scene?

The biggest issue with mental health is that there is no "one-size-fits-all" solution. If five people go into a doctor's office with a broken arm, odds are good the same recovery plan given to the first patient will be the same to the remaining four.

If these same five people have mental health issues, they can all go to the same doctor but unlike with their arm, each person will receive a different treatment option. And unlike the arm issue, there is no guarantee treatment a mental health issue will result in successful treatment. It takes time and getting to really know the patient for there to be any chance of success. If the patient is unwilling to help the process and take the steps recommended, there will be no successful treatment - unlike with the arms.

The last few years the number of people in need of help for mental health issues because of Covid is too large to count. And growing. I know the need for funding for many other things in life is great. I know these aspects are important to a great many people. As they should be.

But unless we do something to increase funding for mental health issues, things are only going to get worse and so will the tears from people who see loved ones gunned down by someone who should have been sent away to get help but never did.