Years ago when I was a postgrad, a Canadian friend of mine told me how common it was for people back home to have personal psychologists. No two weeks would be complete without a trip to the shrink to discuss personal 'issues'. I remember debating with her why the British did not, but instead discussed things with friends over a drink or two or, perhaps more traditionally, kept a stiff upper lip and soldiered on stoically.
Now some two decades later we seem to be slipping into that same culture of needing counselling for anything life throws at us. Switch on the tv and if the particular programme you have been watching deals with anything mildly distressing a phone number appears alongside the credits for those who may wish to talk over the content with a professional. The news lately is full of groups and individuals howling and wringing their hankies about situations that happened decades ago and claiming compensation for their 'distress'. And as much as I admire and support members of the armed forces who have been severely injured and disabled in conflicts on this countries behalf, we now also have to listen to some of their colleagues complaining of the 'mental stress' of combat (as if they hadn't counted on this when they signed up) or in having to miss the birth of their child . In the famous words of one naval captain when assessing the request of a midshipman to be with his wife when she was admitted "I can understand why it was necessary for you to be present at the laying down of the keel, but not for the launch".
So, where is the British resolve we are all proud of? Why does the compensation for the loss of a loved one or the stress of being fired at in the field have to amount to a monetary return, instead of sympathy ,recognition and comaraderie.
You have to wonder what the reaction would have been had an actor walked across the stage of Shakespeare's Globe after a particularly gory rendition of Hamlet with the words "and if any of ye have been so affected by that which you have witnessed, then readily we will assist thee and listen to thy afflictions".
Well, it might have raised a laugh or two and perhaps a few objects thrown in his direction.
In short, we need to rediscover our national backbone, stop whingeing and start rediscovering the bulldog spirit that made us the great nation we once were.
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