I feel moved to add a personal postscript. I hope my remarks won't be taken as self-pitying, they aren't meant that way. The basic threads in the story of my emotional development, I think, aren't so different from those in the narratives of countless others.

I didn't get appropriate early practice, handling anger and other strong emotions. But, in those difficult early years, as my identity was being formed, I certainly had enough anger directed at me.

I was such a docile, sweet youngster, your heart would break. Yet I was always a burden.

Change-of-gears.

I can't remember the name or authors of that book with a red cover, came out in hardback maybe ten years ago. It's about the scientific studies that clearly establish a link between harsh childrearing methods and the appeal, in adulthood, of fundamentalist, punitive ideologies. Written by academics, the prose can be a little technical, but the premise has big implications in our society and the text is well worth the slog.
8:47:04 AM    comment []