A quote from the Dec. 10, 1970, Rangely Times stands out: “Fifty years ago today this country was known as a melting pot. Today it resembles a pressure cooker.”
Another 50 years down the road, we might be more of a melting pot, but we’re definitely still a pressure cooker. Social, political, racial and economic tensions are higher than ever, fueled by prodigious amounts of fear and anger, ignorance and assumption, and an unwillingness to admit that we might ever be wrong about anything, ever.
Top that off with a pandemic, and you have people reacting in ways that are out of line with their typical behavior. It’s easy to react, hard to respond. It’s harder still to forgive and offer grace. But if we are going to come out on the other side of this thing without shredding the fabric of our society, doing the harder things will be required of us.
Speaking of making mistakes, I made an error in this space last week when I said the public health director was the lowest paid county department head. She is actually listed as a “director.” Most county departments have directors, others have coordinators. Sales and use tax has an administrator. Weed and pest has a supervisor. Elected officials have their own titles (assessor, treasurer, sheriff, commissioner, etc.). In meetings, they all tend to be referenced as “department heads,” although that doesn’t appear to be anyone’s actual title.
The last time county salaries were published was back in August, in the Public Notices section. According to that list, the public health director is not the lowest paid of the loosely defined “department heads.” It looks like that role belongs to the county coroner, whose salary is established by state statute as an elected official. The more you know, the more you need to learn.
On the front page of this week’s issue you’ll find the first article in the “On Edge” series from COLab about the impact of the pandemic on mental health in Colorado. Mental health and all its accompanying issues — addictions, abuse, suicide — aren’t “city people” problems, it’s everyone’s problem. Rural areas like ours often have a shortage of mental health care providers and hospitals, making it difficult or impossible to receive professional help.
As the series continues, we’ll be hearing the stories of individuals from all walks of life around the state, and we’re looking for locals who will be willing to speak out about their own experiences with mental health, either what’s happened this year or your experience as residents of Northwest Colorado. And we’d like to talk to family members, too, because mental health issues don’t just impact the person afflicted, they impact the whole family. Email [email protected] or call 970-948-9547. By sharing our stories, we can set other people free to reach out and get the help they need.
Here’s a question to consider: have the restrictions and disruption of routine since the pandemic began caused the increase in mental health issues we’re seeing, or were those struggles and problems there all along? Were we just too preoccupied and too comfortable living our lives to notice that we, or our friends, or our neighbors, were in crisis? If so, maybe something good will come out of the pandemic after all.
By NIKI TURNER – editor@editorht1885.com
