Harrumph...

          The idea of America being a "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" sort of country is not new, in fact I believe that it has long contributed to many things, from a lack of funding for the homeless and mentally ill, to a desire to have African Americans, Native Americans and other groups to just "get over" the numerous wrongs committed against them in our country. I think it still effects us to this day, and the hardest part is that it seems many of our arguments to get help for folks who are struggling may also be contributing to the myth of the "worthy poor". It seems I never see an agency, grant, or foundation that does not in some way "excuse" the need for help that their clients have. I've really started to realize the difficulty with this in trying to help someone close to me seek help for an anxiety disorder. I've found that you can't get TANF unless you have children, you can't get into programs if you don't have children or a serious AOD problem, and you can't get other free or low-income mental health services unless you are considered to be very much in need, which basically means trying to tell the government "no, I'm really crazy, So crazy that you need to help me", which can be detrimental to a citizen's personal freedoms. It seems like the classic ethical dilemma for social workers...Do you try to be strengths-based, and possibly lose access to services, or do you play up the problems, and get services at the risk of stigma and the restriction of freedoms? I just know that, as much as I can see the nobility in trying to do the whole "women and children to the lifeboats first" thing, I can't help but wonder... Can't we just get some more frickin' lifeboats?

And now nobody gets a lifeboat, see?