At the age of four I was abducted by a bag lady at Coney Island and kept overnight in her filthy hovel of an apartment. The next day we went out scavenging for food and I escaped. Five years later I witnessed my six-year-old neighbor and playmate hanging from the shower curtain rod in his bathroom, the belt of his blue bathrobe tied around his neck. (They said it was an accident.) Later that same year, my 15-year-old baby sitter who lived right next door was shot and killed by her older brother in their garage. (I heard the gunshot.)
Many decades have passed, and besides a first-term miscarriage and a couple of botched surgeries, everything has gone well for me since then. Yet I am constantly being told by medical professionals, family and friends alike that those early traumatic experiences are responsible for my present-day anxieties, and even my recent heart attack. To all of them I say: "Balderdash!"
My current vexing anxieties are the direct result of how mean and spiteful people, often complete strangers, are to one another. Another source is the election of Donald Trump by half our citizens, causing the half that didn't vote for him to assume the half that did are all racist morons. More anxiety comes from that lunatic running North Korea who enjoys playing with missiles that could destroy the world. And from groups like Black Lives Matter and the American Freedom Party. And from learning that the now-disgraced but long-adored morning chit-chatter, Matt Lauer, earned $25 million annually, while a dear friend of mine who is a trauma nurse working 12-hour shifts makes $85,000.
I got over my childhood a long time ago. It's right now that worries me.
Many decades have passed, and besides a first-term miscarriage and a couple of botched surgeries, everything has gone well for me since then. Yet I am constantly being told by medical professionals, family and friends alike that those early traumatic experiences are responsible for my present-day anxieties, and even my recent heart attack. To all of them I say: "Balderdash!" My current vexing anxieties are the direct result of how mean and spiteful people, often complete strangers, are to one another. Another source is the election of Donald Trump by half our citizens, causing the half that didn't vote for him to assume the half that did are all racist morons. More anxiety comes from that lunatic running North Korea who enjoys playing with missiles that could destroy the world. And from groups like Black Lives Matter and the American Freedom Party. And from learning that the now-disgraced but long-adored morning chit-chatter, Matt Lauer, earned $25 million annually, while a dear friend of mine who is a trauma nurse working 12-hour shifts makes $85,000.
I got over my childhood a long time ago. It's right now that worries me.
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