Monday, March 31, 2014
Today was my first day working at the United Hospital Hospice Foundation in St. Paul. Perhaps this current job will lead to something much bigger later on. I remain skeptical. And that is probably a healthy thing. And maybe it is a bit unhealthy as well. I am quite confused these days. I am trying to gain a firmer sense of what is real and what is an illusion. This isn't exactly easy.
Inspiration for my daily writing comes to me at the strangest of times on occasion. My topic for today came to me while I was at work. So how are monsters made?
I think one sure way to create a monster is to continually fail to hold a person accountable for their actions. There is a stage of human development, sometimes known as 'The Terrible Twos', that instantly comes to mind when I think on this topic. Many of us have seen it on display when a child acts inconsolable and will not cooperate in any way unless any and all of his demands are met. Indeed, children can display the intractability of mules and cause extreme consternation to their parents. I don't have the perfect recipe for creating human monsters but I am convinced that giving people a pass (also known as never holding a person accountable for what he is in fact responsible for) over and over again is one sure ingredient that will catalyze the development of the worst of human monsters.
If you have been following my blog recently I think you will have a sense of where this posting is going. I wrote recently about psychopaths and allowed myself to wonder 'aloud' in this publicly visible forum whether my own father may in fact be one. Some disorders are difficult to diagnose because the symptoms associated with it may be difficult to discern. I think psychopathy must be a bit like this. One of the greatest horrors may indeed be the intelligent psychopath. This is someone who is sufficiently self-aware and intelligent such that he is able to pass for a normal, healthy person and yet all the while wreak havoc in people's lives. I have been wondering if I have met at least one during the time I have lived in Minnesota. Sad to say but I think there is more than one person who has crossed my path who might easily be interpreted to be a psychopath. And this leaves me wondering about my own judgment. It is easy to look back in hindsight and see how my own clarity of vision was blurred by un-expunged grief.
One supposed advantage of growing up around too much mental illness is that it can leave you with a strong ability to sense such illness in others in the general public. Do you understand what I mean? Have you ever met a person for the first time and immediately been overcome with a sense that something is simply 'off' about the person? Perhaps you cannot even name it in words but nonetheless you feel this uneasy feeling that there is something very dark inside their minds, souls or bodies. I have experienced this many a time.
Without having read up more on the phenomenon of psychopathic people I have to say an indicator of the disorder that particularly troubles me is the lack of remorse or understanding of the consequences that an action may result in that can be found in people who are psychopaths. This one indicator alone does not a psychopath make but I think it's an excellent indicator to be mindful of.
Today was my first day working at the United Hospital Hospice Foundation in St. Paul. Perhaps this current job will lead to something much bigger later on. I remain skeptical. And that is probably a healthy thing. And maybe it is a bit unhealthy as well. I am quite confused these days. I am trying to gain a firmer sense of what is real and what is an illusion. This isn't exactly easy.
Inspiration for my daily writing comes to me at the strangest of times on occasion. My topic for today came to me while I was at work. So how are monsters made?
I think one sure way to create a monster is to continually fail to hold a person accountable for their actions. There is a stage of human development, sometimes known as 'The Terrible Twos', that instantly comes to mind when I think on this topic. Many of us have seen it on display when a child acts inconsolable and will not cooperate in any way unless any and all of his demands are met. Indeed, children can display the intractability of mules and cause extreme consternation to their parents. I don't have the perfect recipe for creating human monsters but I am convinced that giving people a pass (also known as never holding a person accountable for what he is in fact responsible for) over and over again is one sure ingredient that will catalyze the development of the worst of human monsters.
If you have been following my blog recently I think you will have a sense of where this posting is going. I wrote recently about psychopaths and allowed myself to wonder 'aloud' in this publicly visible forum whether my own father may in fact be one. Some disorders are difficult to diagnose because the symptoms associated with it may be difficult to discern. I think psychopathy must be a bit like this. One of the greatest horrors may indeed be the intelligent psychopath. This is someone who is sufficiently self-aware and intelligent such that he is able to pass for a normal, healthy person and yet all the while wreak havoc in people's lives. I have been wondering if I have met at least one during the time I have lived in Minnesota. Sad to say but I think there is more than one person who has crossed my path who might easily be interpreted to be a psychopath. And this leaves me wondering about my own judgment. It is easy to look back in hindsight and see how my own clarity of vision was blurred by un-expunged grief.
One supposed advantage of growing up around too much mental illness is that it can leave you with a strong ability to sense such illness in others in the general public. Do you understand what I mean? Have you ever met a person for the first time and immediately been overcome with a sense that something is simply 'off' about the person? Perhaps you cannot even name it in words but nonetheless you feel this uneasy feeling that there is something very dark inside their minds, souls or bodies. I have experienced this many a time.
Without having read up more on the phenomenon of psychopathic people I have to say an indicator of the disorder that particularly troubles me is the lack of remorse or understanding of the consequences that an action may result in that can be found in people who are psychopaths. This one indicator alone does not a psychopath make but I think it's an excellent indicator to be mindful of.
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I invite you to accompany me as I document my own journey of healing. My blog is designed to offer inspiration and solace to others. If you find it of value I welcome you to share it with others. Aloha!