Tuesday
September 2, 2014

Life on Life's Terms

Forced choice

Later that day, David called.  "I feel really bad about calling the police," he said.  "Smiley was doing me a favor.  Maybe I should have just followed him home."

"He wouldn't let you take him home.  Could you allow a visibly drunk man drive away with a loaded gun?" I asked.  "Suppose he crashed into someone, and got out of his car, gun in hand.  You followed him in your in your car.  By the time you got out of your car, he'd probably have shot the other driver. He'd be looking at the death penalty and you'd be hoping he didn't shoot you next."

"It might not have happened that way," David said.  "Now he's going to lose his job."

"OK, shooting the other driver was an extreme example.  Suppose he kills the other driver in the collision, or kills himself.  What good would following him have done?  You'd just be there to witness his self-destruction."

David thought for a minute.  "He really gave me two tough choices.  I could have called the cops or risked having him kill someone on the way home."

"You have no reason to feel bad about yourself.  He gave you no real choice."

Today I won't feel bad if someone presents me with two difficult choices.

Upcoming

Burnout: Clinical, Ethical, & Supervisory Issues
September 12, 2014 at Greenbriar-New Kensington
9:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m
$30 payable in advance, at the door, or by invoice after the training

This three hour training is accredited for:

• Addiction Counselors by the Pa. Certification Board
• CRCs  by the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification # 11938191652 and 11938191653 (one hour Ethics portion)
• Counselors by NAADAC #477 and NBCC #6352
• EAPs by the Employee Assistance Certification Commission
• Social Workers by the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work.

Other Blogs

AArdvarks, a daily messages blog about a group of young people in recovery can be found at: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/6921364-lines.

Smart Bears, Angry Rats

I herd you      75 Years later

When his father had gone missing, T Cell had sought out Ubutu for help.  Ubutu and Olsen hadn't been able to find Sammy.

"What do you think happened to Sammy?" Olsen asked Ubutu several months later.

"I don't know, but we can't give up the search," Ubutu answered.  He added, "I am grateful to you."

Olsen was surprised.  As intelligence officer, locating Sammy was his job.  "I didn't find a find a trace of him.  Why would you be grateful to me?"

"A rancher has two sons.  If one of his calves strays, he can send out a son to fetch it.  If two calves stray, he can send them both out.  But if a third strays, he must leave the herd or abandon the calf."

"What's your point?"

"Each calf that doesn't stray makes looking after the whole herd a little easier for the rancher.  By being where you're supposed to be, doing what you're supposed to, you make looking after the company a lot easier.  Your dependability frees up resources to see to other matters. The fact that you personally haven't found Sammy is irrelevant."

Olsen knew what Ubutu was saying, and appreciated the thought, but joked with him anyway. "So, you see your employees as a herd of cattle, do you?"

Ubutu smiled, but said, "I believe the Americans have an expression about the bull and the horns. . . ."

Today I will take pride in being dependable, and freeing up resources needed to help others.

Smart Bears, Angry Rats (c) 2014 by Ken Montrose