A June 5, 2022 article in the New York Times titled " In Rural Town, Parents and Students Clash over Mental Health," received my attention. I am tying that article to the Pied Piper of Hamlin fairy tale. Although there are significant differences, there are too many similarities currently in play This disquisition, by analogy, addresses 6 similarities.
In a small Connecticut town, described as blue-collar, many parents argued vehemently against placing a mental health clinic in the high school. Although ,in Connecticut ,there are more than 100 school-based health clinics operated by Generations Family Health Center. This nonprofit health care group provides a licensed therapist that bills on a sliding fee scale using federal funds if necessary , so there isn’t cost to the school and little, if any, to the families. This blue-collar community has been described as being among the 157 schools with the highest unmet needs in the state. According to a 2021 survey, 28.2% of teens thought about self harm and 14.7% reported making a plan for suicide. This town has been known for decades to have problems with substance abuse and suicide that were formally addressed by priests or pastors. According to the article, studies suggest that school-based services can significantly decrease suicidal behavior and substance abuse.
There's been a series of parental complaints reported such as: 1. My generation toughens things out. I fear school-based therapists would be advising teens on matters like gender identity or birth control. These topics should be firmly in the grip of parents. Children are very malleable. 2. This resistance is mostly on grounds that it infringes on the rights of parents. 3. This arrangement gives the student a lot more access to counseling without seeking parental approval. 4. I don't think we should be helping a kid to walk into a mental health facility in the school and say I'm thinking about an abortion without the parents knowing for up to six visits. Therapists can mettle in my teenage son's mind because at that age they are most vulnerable. 5. Modern-day psychology is rooted in occultism-Sigmund Freud used drugs when writing his thesis and Carl Jung channeled spirit guides 6. My mother was committed to the state mental hospital where they just drug people up. We could become a walking pharmaceutical clinic .
Those parents are expressing fear about treatment for their children and teens irrespective of emotional disturbance. Psychological welfare is irrelevant to their primitive,irrational false belief system . Receiving assistance for emotional disturbances from people other than a religious person is dangerous ? Is there a connection between today's parents' fears with the archaic belief system of The Pied Piper tale?
According to the brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm,a mysterious man appeared in Hamlin wearing a coat of many bright colored clothes and was called the Pied Piper. He claimed to be a rat catcher. He promised that for a certain sum of money he would rid the city of all mice and rats. It was stated that in 1284 Hamlin was suffering from a plague. According to the tale, the Pied Piper used his magic pipe and pulled all the rats into the river where they drowned. For some reason the citizens of Hamelin did not honor the agreement and shortchanged the Pied Piper. So, the Pied Piper got his revenge by playing his magic pipe, thereby having all the children except one to follow him and never to be seen again. Some think this event actually happened but that does not concern us.
.In any event, certain themes are apparent: 1. The citizens of Hamlin were confronted with a significant health concern. The citizens of this Connecticut town had a mental health crisis of drugs, pregnancy, depression, suicide, and other self-destructive acts. First, how long did it take the citizens of Hamlin to address their health issue? Had they tried other avenues before hiring the Pied Piper? How reputable was the Pied Piper? Second, mental illness problems in Connecticut were not new but ongoing. It was reported that men of faith had not fixed or cured their issues. However, these parents were given an opportunity for a medical program to be implemented. I question the primitive,magical thinking of the citizens of Hamlin and the fear-based ignorance of many of these blue collar citizens in Connecticut. More than likely these primitive,irrational citizens did not wear a mask, social distance nor receive vaccinations, thereby making Covid-19 more problematic, which exacerbated problems for their teenagers.
2. The citizens of Hamlin were not trustworthy. They hired the Pied Piper and then reneged on fully paying him for his work. Did he not do what was requested? The citizens of Hamlin lied, misled, betrayed, cheated demonstrating amoral behavior to the Pied Piper. Tendencies of mistrust, interferes with adequate parenting and is harmful. The citizens modeled mistrust that negatively affected their property- spouse and children. With mistrust, one cannot rely and be certain and secure of parenting messages. Mistrust likely led to the children following and easily being led away by a charmer. The citizens of Killingly, Connecticut also have issues of mistrust. These parents are fearful of their teens talking to a professional about Individual and family issues. They mistrust their teens and mistrust a therapist.There are communication issues going on in many of these households. Are they against assistance for their loved ones ?It’s a funny way to show love and concern. Is there something that the parents want to hide? Are there drug and alcohol use or abuse; domestic violence or sexual abuse taking place or some criminal behavior ? Being in a mistrustful family, it's not surprising that teens are in strong favor of having mental health availability so they have an opportunity to develop trust , security and being taken seriously.
3. The Pied Piper sadistically led the children easily away from their parents Perhaps the children of Hamlin had difficulties and ambivalence with being parented and welcomed the opportunity to escape and leave home. One doesn’t leave when there is satisfaction and security. The children were not falsely promised anything and they appeared gullible. Were they seeking satisfaction or were they fleeing from misery? Were the parents over dependent with their children and became anxious with the separation and loss? Certainly, the Connecticut parents feared they would lose their offspring to the ideas of the therapist. These parents were not only overly dependent, but were more afraid of losing control and obedience by reinforcing dependency behaviors. More than likely these teens were seeking age-appropriate independence by talking to a trained therapist about their inner feelings and concerns. The formation of identity begins with the opportunity to explore,understand and be exposed to a broader view of attitudes, values and life issues common to their age group. In any event, parenting styles and techniques are at issue. The children of Hamlin easily left their home for the unknown. The Connecticut teens wanting to emotionally separate pursue therapy suggests dissatisfaction in their lives becomes threatening to those insecure and dependent parents. Perhaps these parents had parenting styles of permissiveness and inconsistency or more likely styles that were of an authoritarian nature, suggesting rigidity, mistrust with a control mentality with disastrous rules and regulations..Further, authoritarian styles are also associated with lack of flexibility, warmth and the ability to understand their teens and what their teens needed and required from them.The exploration of ambivalence becomes necessary to explore at this age.
4. The Pied Piper received the narcissistic injury in that he wasn't paid fully and reacted with the motive to avenge the wrong with vengeance and revenge. Apparently there was no discussion about being wronged by those citizens or other attempts to resolve monetary differences. The citizens of Killingly also demonstrated sadism and perhaps to avenge their own mistreatment by family members during their days of being reared. To deny the opportunity for allowing one's offspring mental health access is clearly cruel, inappropriate and sadistic. Allow your teenager to suffer emotionally? It's obvious that these parents were not addressing the needs of their teens . In doing so, these parents are teaching their teens to mistrust, engage in irrational primitive thinking with prejudice around emotional difficulties. Just put your head in the sand and pray.
5. The Hamlin children left home based emotionally and did not apply objective rational judgment as they left the security of their home to go off with a stranger. They joined their peers with consensus. They were obedient and loyal followers marching to some " magical sound" and docile in their following the false Messiah. The description of the town folks in Killingly. ( The town name says it all) are described as folks believing in political lies and falsehoods. These blue-collar white folks obediently and loyally follow a Messiah who benefited from a defunct and fraudulent University; said Mexico would pay for an imaginary wall;and collected $ 250 million in contributions for a nonexistent legal fund.
6. The last point to be made is regarding the unintended consequences for a decision. The Hamlin folks hired a magical individual to cure or to fix their health problems. Their greed got in the way of payment and they suffered severe ramifications for that decision. The Republican leaning folks in Connecticut made a decision against having a community mental health program in their high schools. That decision was based on irrationality, bias, and prejudice suggesting the scientific method ,objectivity and reasoning was not available to them. Intellectually, emotionally and morally they pursued self defeating ideas. They were handicapped by mistrust and with mistrust one develops paranoid tendencies. The paucity in their thinking leads them to believe in black or white, good or bad. Government, science, psychotherapy, Democrats, Nancy Pelosi,Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden ,Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, foreigners, CRT etc. are evil. Their attitude ,biases and prejudices are based on their upbringing, peer groups, political, economic, educational, religious and social negative experiences within their life space. In other words, who they are, their sense of self , identity is built on irrationality, primitive thinking, following false idols and belief in the supernatural. Cognitive dissonance interferes in taking in information contrary to their belief system. Thus, to change and accept ideas that are contrary to this way of thinking, becomes very difficult and can collapse one's sense of self and identity. They stick and hold their beliefs and are unable to separate themselves from these beliefs, regardless of consequences. It's similar to when folks believed "the earth is the center of the universe," "the earth was created in seven days," and "the earth is flat." One could not convince these folks otherwise, and it would be like talking to a brick wall - ignoramuses prevail .However, change becomes potentially possible depending upon the degree of mistrust and paranoia. Therefore, Hamlin and the Connecticut folks remained paralazed in their self -defeating decision-making consequences. The citizens of Hamlin suffered as well as the Killingly folks. Children, teens, community and nation suffers from irrationality, prejudice,amorality and limited intellectual capability from the uninformed with unintended consequences to follow.
In closing, it has been said that history repeats itself. That is true because man makes history and man's behaviors are a series of repetitions irrespective of time or place. Therefore, in Germany, about the year of 1284, man repeated and/or created a tale based on his imagination of his experience. Sometimes it's historical fiction based on some event. In the magical character of the Pied Piper, we see a magician-like quality in his ability to lead loyal followers regardless of the consequences. Unfortunately, in the story, he leads children to perhaps a positive or a much darker ending. This story describes and reflects the challenges facing us today as depicted in the January 6 congressional hearings. Are we going to be led away from the rule of law? Are we headed for authoritarian gangster-like rule in seeking Pied Piper narcissistic revenge? If so, the Pied Piper foreshadows our conflicts of our current dilemma from a thousand years ago.The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other- Richard Bach
PS
Jim Howard, a two time W S 100 winner, has entered again and plans to break the 60-69 age group record tomorrow. Good luck Jim.
On another note, a New Mexico ignoramus voted no in regards to certifying their recent election. He said he had no evidence and it was about his gut in making a decision. I suggest ,instead, he uses his cerebral cortex next time. Perhaps he has a blood-brain barrier issue that allows harmful substances to enter his brain.
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