Alex
Crisis management
Psychologists have long recognized the fact that some people put themselves in dangerous situations every once in a while, situations that require an inordinate amount of strength and self-control. People who are addicted to crisis management are often unstable and have grown up in disfunctional families. Regular crisis give them a sense of control and mastery, outside admiration and a good excuse to go through life without accomplishing much.
Crisis management strategies could fit, in my oppinion, a lower meaning for Strenght. I watched it so often in my own family. My dad failed a total of 7 businesses he had started, and while I was growing up he hit bottom (to the point we had to move in with grand parents) six times. Twice he had serious charges pressed against him and more than once police hit at our door with court orders to take him. Being a lawyer himself, he never went to jail, but we all knew he deserved it a couple of times. In the meanwhile, mother would take the reigns of the family and sustain all of us. It has always puzzled me the fact that she strick with father no matter how many times he failed us, and how much pride she seemed to take out of having people tell her how strong she is. "You are a strong woman", all would say, but the fact is that she was scared to death to break free from that cycle. Looking back, not only she, but her mother, who was married with a man who was often unemployed, and her grandmother, who had been married with an alcoholic, I can see a family illness, generations of "strong women" who were in fact very weak, their own way.
I think there are lower and higher meanings of "Strength", and the boundaries are not always very clear. I myself have a hard time sometimes, to decide whether I'm being strong or just stupid, holding onto something hopeless out of fear.
Alex.
Psychologists have long recognized the fact that some people put themselves in dangerous situations every once in a while, situations that require an inordinate amount of strength and self-control. People who are addicted to crisis management are often unstable and have grown up in disfunctional families. Regular crisis give them a sense of control and mastery, outside admiration and a good excuse to go through life without accomplishing much.
Crisis management strategies could fit, in my oppinion, a lower meaning for Strenght. I watched it so often in my own family. My dad failed a total of 7 businesses he had started, and while I was growing up he hit bottom (to the point we had to move in with grand parents) six times. Twice he had serious charges pressed against him and more than once police hit at our door with court orders to take him. Being a lawyer himself, he never went to jail, but we all knew he deserved it a couple of times. In the meanwhile, mother would take the reigns of the family and sustain all of us. It has always puzzled me the fact that she strick with father no matter how many times he failed us, and how much pride she seemed to take out of having people tell her how strong she is. "You are a strong woman", all would say, but the fact is that she was scared to death to break free from that cycle. Looking back, not only she, but her mother, who was married with a man who was often unemployed, and her grandmother, who had been married with an alcoholic, I can see a family illness, generations of "strong women" who were in fact very weak, their own way.
I think there are lower and higher meanings of "Strength", and the boundaries are not always very clear. I myself have a hard time sometimes, to decide whether I'm being strong or just stupid, holding onto something hopeless out of fear.
Alex.
Yuko