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Thanksgiving; Time with Family. No Thanks

copyright © 2009 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org As Americans ponder the Thanksgiving Day holiday expectations are high. Young children look forward to all the activities loved ones plan. School age individuals are told tales of the Pilgrims and the Indians that befriended early settlers.  Most imagine that on this November day, people come together peaceably.  That, for the little ones is a welcome thought.  Too often, tension exists in the parent child relationship.  Some say angst increases as the offspring age.  Whilst many wish to believe the strain occurs over time, as a child becomes more autonomous, indeed, recent research shows early interactions give rise to the relationship that will be. Toddlers and tots rarely have opportunities to quietly, calmly, and genuinely converse with parents or the caregivers they are fond of.   Hence, lads and lasses feel a sense of loss.  By the teen years, the thought of another Thanksgiving celebration with relatives evokes an almost automatic response, "No thanks."

Live Your Life; Rest In Peace

Live Your Life © copyright 2007 Betsy L. Angert
I offer my thanks to the creator, Danny Smith, and to the Sandwichman at MaxSpeak for stimulating this sharing.

We wake to work, dress for the job, drive to the office, factory, educational institution, the fields, or perchance, a restaurant. Perhaps, we travel to the site, go underground, or seek scaffolding. Some soar above the clouds to complete their designated task, or is the word "required" a more accurate term for what we do daily.

Isolation. Insulation. The Go-Go Garage Society and Its Islands ©

Days ago I was scanning My Left Wing and saw a diary that drew me in, “I Look at All the Lonely People.” The author, Eugene, stated “I've never been one to have many close friends . . . I am very, very choosy with who I care to spend my time with, who I open up to.” I thought, “Me too!” I have been very selective all of my life and it has served me well. Eugene’s words peeked my curiosity; thus, I continued.

As his article expanded, I discovered that he was discussing a recently released study, “Social Isolation in America: Changes in Core Discussion Networks over Two Decades.” This report revealed people in America no longer have the close ties they once did. A quarter of the population has no one they confide in. Most persons are fortunate to have one close friend, perhaps two. Intimacies within families are not what they once were, or at least they are not as they were once believed to be. People in America feel alone and isolated. Interesting; now, I am among the “norm” and yet, simultaneously, still far from it.