I was thinking...

Children are expected to do things and be things adults no longer feel like doing or being. For example: children are expected to be nice, eat healthy, be active, learn new things, and comply with social standards--whether in a home, a classroom, or in public. The adults who expect these things are often no longer willing to be or do most of them, if any of them at all. They eat "whatever [they] want," do "whatever [they] want," and don't adhere to common social standards of politeness or following rules. However, the most important thing adults expect of children but not of themselves is an ancient word: resilience ( resilience (n.)  1620s, "act of rebounding," from Latin resiliens , present participle of resilire "to rebound, recoil," from re - "back" (see  re- ) + salire "to jump, leap" (see  salient  (adj.)).) Legend has it adults were once quite resilient. But, that was millenia ago, recorded on stone tablets in...

I'll come right out and say it: Disney wants your kids to be addicted to porn. Their approach is a careful design from childhood to adult, and is perfectly executed. Think about how sexualized their characters are, especially their most innocent. No female protagonist is without makeup, form-fitting and/or revealing clothes, and unrealistic levels of willingness and sexual attractiveness. No male protagonist is without a dogged attitude toward these women, with unrealistic levels of sacrifice and maturity (at least by the end of the movie.) In essence, the male protagonist should expect to earn the female through sheer benevolence, and the female should be expected to give into his desires no matter her personal conviction. Even the antagonists of both sexes have the same qualities, only the men are dominant, and the women are promiscuous. All of these character tropes lead children to expect a social structure in a world that isn't real, and the best way to escape th...

I go to therapy. I resent that I have to wait with the people in the waiting room at Weber Human Services in Utah--the pool of human refuse where I was dropped. The other patrons of this venue include: drug addicts, alcoholics, suicide risks, etc. I am none of these. Why I was sent there is because I need help, and I'm required to seek it regularly to continue to have Medicaid (a government program which provides services for those who can't afford to pay for them.) But, I feel unqualified to be there with the more remarkable human waste, because I'm not them. I'm just a mood disorder. In therapy, when I start to share my thoughts and feelings, it's obvious there's an issue, which psychology can define best as Bipolar II. Bipolar Disorder [1] by chi-of-ink Bipolar II is a mood disorder. It's slightly less intense than Bipolar I, but it's just as damaging and, sadly, more often leads to suicide. Either label becomes part of your identity if you ar...

Amidst all of the unsettling things of the world today, I feel its necessary to take it upon myself to add to the controversy. A sort of gilding the uneasy lily. So here are a few very controversial statements which don't necessarily reflect my actual opinion, but exist simply for the purpose of this post. Let's see if you can handle the searing conflict from what's being said: It's okay to smell your fingers at any time. The next actor who plays James Bond should be a naturally redheaded white man. Mix equal parts Sprite, Dr. Pepper and Barq's Root Beer in one cup, and drink it all. Pizza can have sauce and toppings without cheese, and vice versa. Leave a window screen in the frame if it has a long tear all the way through it. Scratch a bug bite until it bleeds. Turning off a movie while an entire group is just getting into it isn't a bad thing. Dr. Suess books are difficult to read to children. Wear socks that have holes at the t...

1.  2.  3.  4.  *Bonus*: Mark Twain bred many kittens, but there's no evidence Ernest Hemingway was the father. 5.  6. 7.  8.  9.  10.