How many of you work with someone who appears to be losing his/her grip on reality? For the past few months I have seen a colleague act increasingly angry and irrational. The other day it got so bad that, for the first time, I actually became concerned.
The beginning of the story dates back several months. He and I were talking after school and the discussion went to the vote in congress that was coming up concerning extending unemployment benefits past 99 months. His sister has been unemployed and receiving benefits for the maximum allowed time; the upcoming vote could have cut off her only means of support. He was noticeably angry and agitated, vowing to go to “war” with the Republicans if they did not vote to extend benefits. He blamed them (the Republicans) for causing all the countries troubles. You need to realize that I respect and like this man even though we tend to see politics differently. I have been a witness to his liberal leanings for years, and we even agree on some issues, but his behavior was becoming more like furious ranting than informed dissent. He is a bright man, but is not good at considering alternate points of view (hearing is not the same as listening). He tends to prejudge a position based on whose position it is rather than the merits of the argument. He did not specify what he meant by “war”, but he has never been the kind of person to tolerate violence and I didn’t think much about it.
About three weeks ago he announced that if the Republicans got the cuts to the budget they wanted, there would be “armed violence” in the streets. He told me that he was sure that the “militia” groups would move to “violently” overthrow the Republicans in congress. In his mind they (the Republicans) were evil, hateful, and only cared about the rich. He made several things clear; first he is angry and frustrated, and second, he “hates” the rich and the Republicans. He also made it clear that he believes the racist right-wing crazies in the militias who hate Democrats and blacks have been deposed by socialist left wing crazies who hate the Republicans and the rich. Somehow I must have missed that on the nightly news. While I did not respond to this stream of insanity with any noticeable distress; the hair on the back of my neck stood up and I became very concerned. I struggled with whether I needed to report this to the principal. The exchange between he and I was a private conversation, and as such, need not be any of her business unless he had a made a specific threat to someone at work. He had not. My other concern was that he was making his “thoughts” known to his classes. If he was talking about this in class I would need to inform the principal and action would need to be taken. After some investigation it became clear that he had not shared his feelings with the students, and I decided to keep the exchanges to myself. It was probably just him using me to blow off steam. I still feel he is harmless, if not misguided and uninformed.
Two days ago after school I was talking to my friend from Theology when my liberal friend came in the room. We were discussing an incident where she (Theology Teacher) had witnessed one student being inappropriately physical with another. Both students claimed it was a joke and nothing was meant by it but she wisely told them that it was wrong and could not happen again. I advised that she report the incident to Guidance. Our discussion then went to other stories we had heard where the bully had done significant harm to the person being bullied. My liberal friend wondered out-loud how the bully would feel if the parents of the other person hired a “sniper” to “take him out.” He left the room after telling us that violence was the only solution to some problems.
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