Family Dynamics part 2

I would say you have a point. But, I would also add that not everything about you is due to your family. I was the youngest of 3, my brother was actually a special kind of asshole. I mean he put me down in any way that he possibly could. My family always ignored me and I was constantly trying to get attention from them because I was a very sociable kid. I got depressed in middle school and, paradoxically, forced people to leave me alone so I really didn't have any friends until late high school and especially now in college. No matter what, I always had a bit of a forceful personality. And I'm talking, my brother made fun of me, sugared his ego at my expense, beat me up every once and awhile. We were supposed to share a room as kids but he always kicked me out and when I tried to hangout, he'd physically remove me from the room. I don't know how your parents were involved, but maybe because mine were basically not involved at all, I developed a more willful attitude. Who knows. It is an interesting subject.

I think we were in similar situations though. You said you became comfortable in a supporting role. I was never okay with that. In fact, I've had to struggle to just relax and be okay with supporting people sometimes. It doesn't make you a faggot or whatever as long as you are gaining in the situation and not being led around toward somewhere you don't want to go.

But anyway, you're a lot older than me. So I don't want to be giving you life advice or anything, this is just how I've come to think about life.

I will say, the life you go through with your family makes a huge impact on the character you will acquire as well as some of the idiosyncrasies that allow you to relate or alienate yourself from the wider community. When you're starting off with a bad momentum, and sometimes a bad momentum can really just be a result of having a family which views life very different from the wider community, then you're almost starting off a step behind people. Well, that's one way to look at it. Life can feel like you're constantly playing catch up on the path towards emotional maturity. Like everyone else is ahead. I think, atp, I'm talking about a personal thing lmao.

Anyway, if you want to watch a deeply powerful show about family, watch Shameless. It is everything the title implies. It's drugees and prostitutes and thugs and also... just poor ass people who were screwed twice in the starting-out department with a manipulative, leech of an alcoholic for a father, a bi-polar deeply selfish mother, living in a neighborhood with people of varying levels of stupid behavior which causes this culture of keeping each other down. Of instilling your pain onto another. But also finding comfort with each other in your equally shitty footing. It's really a great show if you can get past how raunchy it is. Trust me, when you watch it, the last thing you'll be thinking of is sex. It's called Shameless, and a lot of people may think it refers to all the sex and boobs and whatever, but while that's part of it, that's the smallest aspect of the show which is a result of shameless behavior. Anyway, don't want to oversell. It's good. It's a Dramedy. Good acting. Good writing. As funny as it is emotional and clever. And, biggest selling point, it's on Netflix!

"Why cant High School prepare us better for the real world?"

Yes, schools, in general, are only good at teaching the most necessary skills: reading, writing, math etc, but they are really poor at building a foundation for strong character, and they all but destroy curiosity in children by equating success with institutional conformity.

I feel bad for teachers because many of them see this, but they're unable to voice their opposition to it because their jobs are on the line. People like John Taylor Gatto are working to expose the way children are institutionalized from a young age to make them good, obedient workers when they grow up; they expose the history of mandatory schooling and how it was formulated to crush individuality and creativity.

It's a very eye-opening thing to look into the true purpose for mandatory schooling.