THERAPY We have all seen a movie or a television show where some character is sitting in an office with their therapist. And what we see is little more than a conversation going on. Now, to be sure, the therapist is doing more listening than talking (which is what they're supposed to be doing), but still, the whole gist of the scene is more or less just a couple of people talking to each other. I have always been somewhat bewildered by these scenes. Apparently there is a world out there that I know nothing about. I can't comprehend paying someone a hundred dollars an hour (or more) just to talk to them. I mean, isn't that what the people you work with are for? The way I see it (and I honestly believe this is the way that most normal people see it), there are two basic kinds of therapy, family and job. And interestingly enough, they serve as a sort of treatment for each other. If you're normal, your family drives you a little crazy. You need some therapy to help you cope. For most of us, that therapy is our job. It can actually provide a workable remedy for the insanity that dealing with a family may result in. But, as everyone knows who has ever had a job, the place of employment itself becomes like another family, which also drives us crazy, and for which we also need therapy. And where do we go to get that treatment? To the first, the original, family, the one that drove us to the employment in the first place. Yes, it is a totally vicious circle. You go to one place to get therapy for (to talk about) the other place, and on and on. And short of suicide, it's inescapable. There is absolutely nothing we can do about it. I don't even believe that winning the lottery would help. As a matter of fact, it could actually make things worse. You see, it would only create a situation in which neither spouse would have to work, which would mean that they probably wouldn't. And that would mean that they would pretty much always be around each other - and the kids. Talk about insanity. They would be forever looking for excuses to get away. The mother would have the kids involved in all sorts of activities for which she would have to drive them around all day, at least in the summer time. During the school year, it would take place after school and on weekends. And God only knows what the father would be busy with. My guess is that he'd probably try to find some sort of investment scheme to throw himself and his newly acquired fortune into, one of those ventures that would make it necessary to attend those expensive seminars that are always being touted in those infomercials, a perfect (and totally acceptable) way to get away from it all. But the seminars aren't going on all the time. So he'd have to come up with something else to use as a valid excuse for continuing his away-from-home therapy. The thought of just sitting around the house looking for ways to interact with the wife would be unbearable. What would most likely happen is that the father would eventually start another family altogether. That way he could use the two families for complementary therapy. He'd have the obligatory fights with his first wife, after which he could go to the second wife and tell her all about it, and when he saw his kids on the weekends he could not only get away from the second wife for awhile, he could also talk to them about her and all the faults he had with her and how bad he feels for causing all the problems in the family what with the divorce and everything. In other words, he could use his own children for the therapy he would need because of the relationship with the second wife. Now of course this is only going to prompt the first wife to do nothing but reciprocate. She will start being friendly with the pool boy or lawn boy or any other male who might happen to enter her orbit, or maybe allow herself to become addicted to daytime soaps and thereby immerse herself in the lives of a bunch of totally fictitious characters. Like I said, it's vicious cycle. But at least it's free. None of this hundred-dollar-an-hour crap like you see these characters in the movies indulging in. Do people really have that kind of money to waste? I mean, really? And here's another thing. How does it square with all the people in the world who have to deal with sub-standard living conditions; inadequate housing, plumbing, food and so on? Do you think maybe these bozos who think they need a therapist might feel better if they spent their money to help out some poor people, some people who really need help?
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