Taking a Break

I love TV shows that get canceled to soon. Pushing Daisies and Sports Night have to be at the top of that list for me. Sports Night was a little show about sports anchors on a national nightly sports news show, and the production staff around them. It ran for two seasons in the late 90's before it was canceled. In one of my favorite episodes, the two anchors, Dan and Casey, have this little exchange around a moral issue going on with their show:

Casey: Hey, you want to get involved with this?
Dan: I so don’t.
Casey: Didn’t you used to care about these things? And it wasn’t that long ago that you did.
Dan: No.
Casey: I mean, it was like yesterday.
Dan: Right.
Casey: Now, when I say yesterday, I’m not speaking metaphorically. It was yesterday! What happened to your values?
Dan: I find that maintaining them is a lot of work. I take a day off now and then.
Casey: You take a vacation from doing the right thing?
Dan: Yeah. I don’t loot store fronts or anything, but once in a while, when I consider the effort it takes to diligently adhere to a moral compass I take myself out of the line up and I rest for the next game.

There are times, as a therapist, when I feel like that. And, increasingly, there are times as a professor and a supervisor when I feel like that, as well. Doing the right thing takes a lot of work. It does not make you popular. If you are in a position of power over someone, as a parent, a teacher, a therapist, etc., the people in the low power position will question whether or not you are REALLY doing the right thing, which will make you question it yourself. After awhile, that will start to make you crazy. And you will want to go home, curl up on your couch, watch Friday Night Lights (another wonderful underrated show that inexplicably has managed to stay on the air for four seasons) and hide.

But after a few minutes of ranting in a blog, you will take a deep breath, and go back do doing what you are supposed to be doing, which is helping people who don't think they need to be helped with things they think they are already experts on.

This one's for you, parents of small children and teenagers, police officers, CPS workers, elementary school teachers, small claims judges, and junior high assistant principals. Keep doing the right thing.