Robert S. Barnett--6096

VA Mental Health Clinic

Re: Appointment July 13, 2009

To whom it may concern:

Please cancel the July 13, 2009, appointment for me. It was made in response to my expressing a growing depression to my primary care physician, Dr. Abouhisira. I cannot praise either him or the VA enough for the care rendered unto me. However, I am not in need of mental counseling because I semantically errored in what I expressed to Dr. A.

I am not depressed which is a measure a growing self-unhappiness. Rather, and more accurately, I am increasingly saddened by the worsening economic, political and environmental problems which you don't have the power to change. Sadness is a measure of emphathetic unhappiness for the unhappiness seen in others. I am saddened by the declining state of my friends and family.

In general, my wife and I have lived within our means so that the decline must go a long way before we personally suffer. Our simple serenity excludes our winning the worsening crime lottery from worsening unemployment. We enjoy each other, our neighbors and our garden from a paid-off home with a paid-off car. As a practiced swimmer who has survived some turbulent waters, I will keep my head above the stormier waters longer than the average being with the hope that I can avoid those non-swimmers who want to float by clinging to swimmers.

Other than our shared reality improving, the only way to reduce my sadness would be to alter my personal perceived reality with a mind-dulling, problem-shading medication. Please, don't suggest an SSRI. I don't want to ignore my well-rooted worthy worries. I have seen too many critically thinking Democrats become kumbaya pollyanna'd Republicans after taking these chemical lobotomies. Contributing to global dying is the global dumbing of zoloft zombies and prozac pudendas. I prefer to know the problems better and see them sooner.

One of the things that prompted Dr. A's referral was my saying that I had increased my consumption of beer. Since then I have decreased to a single beer on one or two weekdays with maybe four or fives on a cookout with friends. No cookout, no buzz. While I have a liquor cabinet, it is for visitors. If I drink a shot a month, it is unusual. Since my 1970 discharge, I have purchased and consumed seven bottles of Glenlivet scotch, the empty bottles of which are on a shelf in memory of my shipmates. My cigar smoking is still one to three a week with inflation making one more often the rule. I have smoked one in the last month.

So, use my appointment slot for another veteran who may need your training more than me.

Sincerely,

CC: Dr. Abouhisira