All we are is all we are.

William Glasser wrote, “What happened in the past that was painful has a great deal to do with what we are today.”

I think this true. I'd forgotten that I studied the work of William glasser way back in college. Reality therapy. Choice theory. All that. I'd forgotten it. Or maybe, I hadn't so much forgotten it, but rather I'd forgotten that it was something I'd learned about.

Anyway. I was reading about something else tonight, and saw this quote. And it kind of all flashed back to me.

Glasser was/is controversial. He believed that mental illness was more or less just caused by unhappiness. And that most of that unhappiness is caused by failed relationships. And that people have control over their thoughts and actions. But not their feelings or their physiology. And focus in therapy should be on helping people make better choices. In spite of how they feel or their physical functions.
Anyway. Some would say this is hogwash. That you don't have to find a way to live with your past. And that you need meds to fix a mental illness.

I don't know. I guess I just know that there are people that ain't right and that your surroundings and your past do affect you. I'm not a big fan of meds, I guess. I've seen too many kids prescribed into all kinds of confusion. I think they mask depression which I think needs to be dealt with rather than medicated. It seems to me that meds for depression just buries the problem rather than helping. I've not really found that burying things helps anyone feel better really.

So all that aside, I do believe this quote. I believe that painful things from my past have almost everything to do with who I am today. Not that they define me- but that they profoundly affect the way i see and understand the world.

And it's a circle.

So I got into somewhat of a set-to with a cab driver this week. I remarked on how many homeless people I saw. He said it was their own fault, that there were plenty of jobs for those who wanted to work. I said, "yeah, but I saw saw a woman today who was lying on the ground (temp was 28 degrees) with no shoes on. You think this is because she's lazy?"

He kind of chAnged the subject. I looked out the window. My uncle later teased me about it. My aunt said my heart was too tender. It didn't feel like a compliment.

The thought of the lady on the street with no shoes made me profoundly sad. But really? Shouldn't this make a person sad? Shouldn't it?

What kind of pain turns you into a woman lying on the cold ground with no shoes? But moreover, what kind of pain turns you into a guy who tells that woman "get a job.""