Angst in Boca

By now, I'm sure you've heard of the newest mental health crisis facing our society: PEST. Post Election Selection Trauma. BocaNews.com reports that the American Health Association conducted the first of several free noontime therapy sessions where participants screamed epithets at President Bush while sharing their emotions with mental health counselors.

Robert J. Gordon, AHA executive director described the participants as predominantly Jewish and older than 50. Most are registered independents and all live in Palm Beach County. These are some of the people who have fallen prey to the Democrats usual scare tactics such as that the Republicans will end Social Security and start the draft and other assorted nonsense.

I will be the first to say that they are scared and I will not demean them by saying they shouldn't be. That's like telling a child with a boo-boo that he shouldn't cry. It hurts! Of course the kid is going to cry. However, it's also my humble opinion, that there are more mental health issues here than just election results. I am not a mental health counselor, but I have worked in public contact jobs and have been an observer of human behavior for long enough that even I can see that see that it's not just election results that have pushed these people over the edge. This was just the last straw; the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak. I will also admit that my first reaction is to tell them to suck it up and get over it, already. Then I remember that this is the same part of Florida that couldn't cast their votes correctly in 2000. There's much more here than just PEST.

I know myself well enough that had the election gone the other way, I would have been sad and depressed and worried about the future - for a day or two. But not to the extent that I would need mental health treatment. While life doesn't always go the way we want it to, life does go on. I've voted in enough elections to know that what a candidate says during an election is usually campaign rhetoric. The candidate doesn't have the first intention of really implementing his platform. He will say whatever he thinks it will take to get those votes. Unfortunately, Kerry just couldn't get enough voters to believe him when he said whatever he thought that group wanted to hear. And as I said, he used the usual Democratic scare tactics. He ought to be proud that someone really believed him.

On the other hand, it looks as if Bush really does mean what he says. He made me feel that of the two candidates, he was the one who meant what he said. And that's why I supported him and why I voted for him. I want someone in the White House who says what he means and really means what he says. When President Bush says this is how it's gonna be, I believe that's the way it's gonna be. Maybe it's a throwback to when I was a little girl and could count on my Daddy taking care of things, but I like that there is someone who is willing to take care of the big, bad, world.

It's one less thing that I'll have nightmares about.