It seems like yesterday that mental issues were mentioned only in a no-contest divorce. It was the polite way of wiggling out of burnt-out union which otherwise could have implied wife-beating, adultery, homosexuality, pedophilia, or God forbid, zoophilia; whenever possible nice people pleaded “mental cruelty”.
Today every Tom, Dick and Harry (pun intended) brings it up anytime the going gets tough, or the rates slide.
It is also abundantly used to justify losing control over, well almost anything.
(Iconic last scene from "It's a mad, mad, mad, world"
Point in case: 2 days ago the Argentine representative FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (!) got tired of waiting for a long distance bus, insulted the dispatcher, took her picture while threatening to put her in jail (?) and not satisfied went around the counter and slapped her across the mouth. All this was duly filmed and immediately went viral. The man has alleged issues with mental health and says he “made a mistake” (I hate to think the kind of mistakes he makes at home when nobody is watching).
The super nova singer Adele cancelled her much-awaited Vegas junket, had a meltdown online while apologizing to her fans alleging a very difficult year which has affected her mental health. A couple of days later she showed up at the Brits Awards in full regalia mitt gorgeous hair, a 300-watt diamond on her finger and swept all major awards: guess she’s feeling much better. She is not alone. People like Beyoncé say she is so confused she sometimes “cannot tell day from night”, Ryan Reynolds feels his “expectations are eating him alive” (?) and Kendall Jenner of worldwide fame and mega bucks for which she is entirely responsible, complains of mental health issues: “everything is so horrible, where do I even start?” (Really kid? You could start by not posting every pout and settle for a regular life in the real world instead of living in the vapid, vindictive, virtual world created especially by KUWTK).
Speaking of which a few days ago a seriously idiotic woman created her own avatar, put on a pair of Metaverse goggles and watched her avatar chased down an alley by three male avatars that sexually assaulted and almost raped her (Her? It? They? Whatev’!) “I kept screaming for help, but nobody came. I was in tears, totally distraught. I now have mental health issues because of this”. No you daft cow. You had serious mental shortcomings before if you believe avatars are real.
(On the upside maybe she sues Zuckerberg which is not a bad thing).
We can brandish the mental health card at will. This is not to say there are not people out there with serious illness -schizophrenia, autism and chronic depression, etc.- which make their life and their loved ones life hell. But these are no more numerous than people with diabetes or suffering from hair loss; the rest are happily playing the victim card. We have introduced automatic answers to wiggle out of most of life’s tricky situations. “I apologize”. “I misspoke”. “I was abused/groped/touched and/or assaulted thirty years ago”. “I have mental health issues” and my all-time favorite “I made a mistake”. This last one can apply to almost everything from battering a lover to death to declaring war on the wrong country.
At some point we need a reality check. Some things happen because people are bona fide criminals, but most things that happen we bring upon ourselves; the rest is just rotten luck, but that´s life. Nobody said it was easy, nobody issued any guarantees; you muddle through as best as you can -inevitably some mud will stick- and you grin and bear it. Most of the unpleasantness dumped upon us is a direct result of personal choice, and in today’s parlance “we need to own it”. Striving to make the other bastard better is not the point; best to concentrate on ourselves and accept that life will always be thus: a string of magical moments with some serious heartbreak in between; it is what makes the journey unique. Huge loss inevitably brings monumental grief, but being sad is not being sick, it’s called living.
They are trying to sell us an ideal universe of homogenized characters, harboring no anger no violence and no guilt. Gwyneth Paltrow makes a pretty penny out of this; her eye never far from the next buck.
Prince Harry whose present job is “Chief Impact Officer of Better Up” (if somebody has the foggiest idea what this means please be so kind as to educate me) has urged to give employees 45 minutes of “me time” every day; he is clearly unaware that the Chinese who do not believe in wellness -or kindness, they more or less invented refined torture- are working non-stop to gobble up the West. Having never worked in his life, in the sense of putting food on the table, Clueless Harry lamented “burning my candle at both ends”. I immediately had an image of all the partying that went on in his bachelor years; surely that is what he meant.
A life of freedom with accountability can be a lot of fun. It can even turn epic, but to achieve a modicum of greatness some madness is necessary. Best not strive for a uniformed civilization, fearing pain, with emotions downplayed and passions in check; we could risk missing out.
In “Equus” the psychiatrist played by Richard Burton who has been called to treat the boy who blinded the horses, decides not to treat him. He tells the parents, “He has more passion in his little finger than I will ever have in my entire body”. In the closing scenes of “Zorba the Greek” and in the face of total catastrophe, Anthony Quinn tries to make dour, uptight Alan Bates, dance. He has a hard time convincing him. Finally a smile splits his face as he says: “Boss, you lack a little madness”.
Hold that thought.
*Big box office madcap comedy film (1963)
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