Letters to the Editor
Retired Military Patriot
Published Letters: 2270 Editor's Choice: 11
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Congrats for pointing this out
[Read the article: Egypt outlaws female circumcision]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You are doing what we in the West need to do if we want traditional Islam and Muslims to see some of our side of things. We can achieve more moderation in beliefs when we praise moderate Muslims for trying to bring about that very needed change. Too often we just condemn.
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The dependency problem
[Read the article: Grown women: I want mommy!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Mike Pace when he said, “They may not be increasingly dependent on mommy, but they are certainly increasingly less dependent on themselves” and Evelyn Sharenov when she said “Here's the deal - there are relationships that are healthy, normal, nurturing and mutually satisfying. Then there are relationships with mothers that foster continued dependence and lack of accountability (see Ms. Hilton), learned reliance and helplessness, delayed independence, personality disorders, poor modeling,” have outlined the essence of the dependency problem and it is not gender specific.
It is not a matter of how much time a parent spends with a child, what really matters is what the child is taught about responsibility. Most young adults who flounder when meeting the real world, do so because they were not taught the consequences of their decisions. They were not taught how to take personal responsibility and instead spend an enormous effort rationalizing and blaming just as their parents do.
This style of misguided parenting was probably used with Paris Hilton. Paris first step into her prison cell may have been her first real world consequence. And despite the harshness of that reality, the amount of time she has spent in an unreal world, means that it will not be easy for her to fully realize the importance of facing responsibility head on. She will be forever dependent on others until she learns to face herself.
Frenzied lifestyles and wanting to keep up with the “Joneses” are major contributors to the problem of unreal parenting. The parent wants so much for the child to succeed that she/he either prevents learning from mistakes or rescues the child immediately afterwards so that important lessons are lost. The “Jones” lust explains why a child has to go from one adult monitored experience to another or get the top grades and reach the top university so that the parent can believe they are better than other parents. You know that is happening when you see a third grade science project looking like a high school student ran the experiment.
Parents who teach the real world will have adult sons and daughters who stand on their own until they need advice or real help.
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Desert (Sun) Son
[Read the article: Tucker, Jonah, Elizabeth and Jillian]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Your comments about Paul Rosenberg shed light on the kind of Salon postings that are so illuminating. (As an aside, in another of my postings I apologize for using “Sun” instead of “Son.” That Freudian slip was because of how I feel when reading your postings.) Too much posting energy is consumed with I’m right, you’re wrong. Posters who admit when they are wrong and praise posters who have educated them, have the kind of character that means they are usually well worth reading. Rather than try to prove how intelligent or erudite we are, we should be striving to help each other be better world citizens.
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Gordon Ginsberg
[Read the article: Tucker, Jonah, Elizabeth and Jillian]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I agree there is no magic shortcut to ensuring that we oust the RWAs in the next election and forever if possible. The right that uses any means to justify its’ ends, does have a real advantage over those of us who believe fairness and respecting the law is the only way to live. Their fear mongering and win at all costs does a grave disservice to the men and women who are dieing in Iraq for what you and I and true Americans believe is the treasured soul of our nation.
We can spend too much energy on yipping and yapping instead of doing what cim902 suggested, “… continually learn and search for truth, because the truth will set us free …” However, as you point out, we won’t convince those who have been cheated out of the truth to change sides without a shrewd expenditure of energy and a less shrill voice.