CIRCLE WITH A DOT

@pixelate my youtube was just acting up too and I wondered if it was down.

@Cam I guess one could argue that they could be doing those things in person and we wouldn’t know either, but there is something comforting sometimes about being with someone in person. Especially for any kind of healthcare. You are absolutely right about feeling like a number when it’s virtual. They don’t know you yet they know so much about you. It just feels dystopian or something. I guess not having to travel and figure out transportation is a nice perk, but personally, I would rather see a counselor or a doctor in person.

@Cam Exactly. During Covid, the counselor that I had was no longer seeing people in person because her husband was immuno compromised and so we spoke over the phone for the rest of our sessions until she retired. But that was different because I had met her and been in her office several times. I had another counselor after her, and I only spoke to her over the phone. She was terrible. I swear I could hear her doing other things in the background while talking to me. She also didn’t really seem like she was listening to me. Left a bad taste in my mouth about virtual mental health support.

@Cam Agreed. If I wanted to just tell some stranger who I’m never going to meet all my problems, I would go on Reddit. Lol. Virtual counseling where it’s unlikely you will ever meet your counselor just feels very weird to me.

@Cam Wow. I haven’t even really tried to get it because I know I can’t afford it. But I sure could use it! I think I get a certain amount of sessions through work or something but it’s virtual and seems kind of strange. I guess it’s better than nothing. Mental health support should be free.

@Cam Agreed. You should be getting it just because you say you need it. That is absolutely not the way it works here either.

@Cam One of my friends told me last night that she is familiar with the town, and it looks like a Fisher-Price town. Everything is close together, and it’s tiny and cute and looks pretend. It’s always terrible when something like this happens, but even worse when in a tiny town we’re literally everybody knows everybody.

@Cam I mean, apparently it does. It’s awful. And the town had a population of 2400 people. You know everybody knew every single one of the victims and the shooter. Just awful. I can’t even imagine.

@Cam People have a right to express how they feel and you have a right to scroll on by. Or mute the person until it passes or whatever. You also have a right to state your opinion, insensitive though it may be. I don’t think you personally are an insensitive prick, but that opinion was cold and harsh. And I would hope that if I came to you expressing grief over a person, celebrity or not, you wouldn’t just tell me to get over it. But if you did, that would still be your opinion. I’m learning that certain friendships are better for certain topics and you can’t just talk about anything with everybody. And sometimes people will disappoint you or won’t act in a way that you feel makes sense. And it hurts, but humans are gonna human I guess. Every single one of us on this earth has disappointed somebody in one way or another. In the past week, I have experienced a school shooting in a tiny town in my province, the death of one of my favorite actors, and another celebrity who passed away far too young. The world feels heavy. None of it directly affects me, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. This whole week just feels heavy. This whole month, really. Hopefully the fog will lift soon. Let’s all just be kind to one another and try to find Joy where we can get it.

@Cam Sure. Over anybody. Celebrity or not. Grief is grief. When Aretha passed away, I grieved. For a month. Nobody can tell me that wasn’t real or valid. If someone had told me to just get over it, I probably would’ve ended the friendship. She didn’t know me, and certainly wouldn’t have grieved me for a month if I had passed before her, but that’s not the point. Her work and life touched me.

@Cam How is other people‘s grief affecting you? It isn’t. It’s not hurting you. I think what people need in times of grief is comfort and kindness. Not someone telling them to just get over it.

@Cam Of course you have a right to express your opinion. I just think the way you went about it was quite insensitive.

@Cam Wow. Harsh much? People have the right to grieve whoever and however they choose. Someone can grieve just as much for a well known person as average joe from down the street. It doesn’t make their grief any less valid because the person is well known. People have the right to mourn others who created works that touched them. Telling people to just get over it is like telling someone to just get over any other death.