Attila and I have been talking about supportive and non-supportive environments. It is always nice to have someone to confide in when things are not going well, or we are experiencing pain.
Attila and I have both noted that some people have an aversion to knowing anything about other people’s feelings. We both agree they have their reasons.
Every summer when I was a little girl visiting my Grandparents, I would play at the beach and cut my foot on a clam shell at least once. It had to be a pretty bad cut for me to actually tell my Grandparents about it. The reason was the cure was almost worse than the ailment. My Grandfather kept a bottle of Iodine at the ready in the medicine cabinet. One peep of complaint about a cut or scrape and that iodine would be applied. Iodine is very painful when applied to an open wound. We seldom complained about any minor injuries.
This morning as Attila and I were exploring the topic support networks and confiding in others, Attila described a common response as psychic iodine. Psychic iodine is when a confidence is met with stinging criticism, personal attack or suggestions for resolution that would explode on impact.
There is too much psychic iodine in the world today. Maybe there always was.