Yes, I am on a rant....

I wrote yesterday about the overwhelming number of victims that have been murdered by people jerks that cannot see the beauty in the world. I limited my posting to those in the USA but in truth, senseless killing is not an American product. Look around the globe and you will find similar tragedies.

The latest killings happened in my area of the Globe. And Newtown is just a short distance away. Needless to say, the horrors have been on my (an I am sure your) mind. So imagine my surprise when I read that the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health is holding a hearing to eliminate almost half the beds that treat children and teens with mental illness in three hospitals.

Hospital officials said this month that they planned to consolidate their child and adolescent units, the latest in years of steady statewide cuts to pediatric services. While several other hospitals have psychiatry units that serve children of all ages, Cambridge Health Alliance’s Child Assessment Unit accounts for nearly one-third of the hospital mental health beds in Massachusetts designated specifically for the younger age group, typically under 12.
(Source: Boston Globe http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/blogs/white-coat-notes/2013/04/17/hearings-scheduled-proposed-pediatric-care-cuts-cambridge-taunton-hospitals/2P8eOkPit0TlY7X5MvF8dP/blog.html)

Did we not learn anything?

How can we obtain my utopia if we are unwilling to treat children and provide them with the strength they will need in the future? What about their parents who strive every day to make their child the best they can be. To not have them defined by their mental illness but by their strength and character.

I am in no way an expert or know enough. Of course I know that mental illness may not have played a part in any of the senseless killings.

But I believe that if the services needed to equipt children with mental illness are not provided the results could be catastrophic.

End of rant. I promise to get off my soap box by tomorrow.