We wish people didn't abuse alcohol and other drugs. We wish people didn't abuse spouses and children. We wish we didn't need nursing homes or developmental disability centers. They're almost all bad-news needs. And they confront society with a basic conflict.
Nobody wants to hear bad news or deal with it.
But because we're a compassionate society, we want to help. And so that massive collection of programs Leean tries to ride herd over has sprung up, one weed at a time over a landscape that stretches out forever, without order and with frequent conflicts as they compete for the same soil, the public treasury, to grow in. But don't listen for a public outcry for better land management on this terrain. Those who speak up are either those who are afflicted, their relatives and a few neighbors who have grown concerned or those who care for them. Leean has met all of the advocacy groups, as well as the professionals and health care industry managers who supply the services and expect somebody to pay for them.