Counsellor Training Poem by Jan Oskar Hansen

Counsellor

For a short time in Liverpool, I had a job driving
to a house (always working-class) where the man of the house
according to his wife, had a drinking problem.
The man sat in the living room his wife was in the kitchen crying.
The man said, I like a whisky after work, and I go to the pub,
what is wrong with that.
Every day, I said.
Yes, a man got to have his freedom!
I suggested he should not drink for two weeks and see how he felt,
then I left an address for people he could contact if he wanted
to stop his alcohol consumption.
The houses I visited was sad because (not always alcohol) the people
involved didn´t talk to each other.
Sometimes there was a meeting when the whole family surprised
the man in the living room airing their grievances, it always ended in tears
from the man accused.
My thought was to invite the crying man out for a drink it is a brutal way
to attack anyone this way.
No, this job was not for me as I tended to have sympathy for the victim.
My advice would be to get the hell out of the house and find a place
where he could get some peace from interfering with women.
Of course, alcoholism is real, but to get help, they will not get it at home.