We're now in Part 4 of a "Who's Controlling Your Life?" arc. We started the discussion with therapy, workaholism, differences in different cultures, neurologic adaptations that can and can't be seen, dinosaurs, homosexuality and evolution in action. Part 2 wondered if big teeth and big muscles was an experiment that failed and part 3 questioned if homosexuality was another of Nature's experiments .
This post deals with some of childhood's mysteries.
Just as Robert's tendencies weren't obvious in the way Peter's club foot was obvious, so my tendencies, my "wrongness", wasn't obvious to those I played with.My grandmother Sadie, when I was two or three or so, use to call me her Little Professor (another very involved post dealing with obvious evidence that remains unseen) because I seemed to study every thing around me. Grandma Sadie rejoiced in my wrongness but Andy, when he shared Robert's wrongness with me and I replied, "So?" because men did a lot of the cooking in my family and performed other "traditional female" chores (I still do my share of the cooking, do the laundry, vacuum, ...) turned that same look of fear, disgust and repulsion on me. The unspoken "Oh, God! Not you, too!" was as wounding then as the pod person's signaling of "Other! Alien! Stranger! Intruder!" in Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Andy's mother spent a lot of time on the phone with my parents attempting to understand me or have my parents get me the help I needed to be a normal child. She was a very sweet albeit extremely prejudiced woman. I wonder if Andy ever grew beyond her lessons. For that matter, I wonder if I have.
I've written before that I now make a living out of thinking differently. My different neurologic wiring, whether an evolutionary adaptation, a simple sport, a stray gamma ray or not, is something I've managed to turn to profit. I can only hope Robert has done the same. In life.
(more to follow)
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» Who's In Control? (part 6) from BizMediaScience
Controlling your life and applying effort to satisfaction, part 6 [Read More]
Tracked on: February 29, 2008 1:55 PM | Permalink to Trackback