Anger

Something To Say – An Emotive Rant At No One In Particular

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So I watched an episode of the show “What Would You Do?” tonight, which I shared with you a bit in IMs earlier. But… I really wanted to write a post about it because, as you know, this is a really big issue that hits close to home.

On the show, it made me cry. Literally cry while I watched the kindness of some strangers… and the very realistic representation of the hurdles involved with this issue.

Although not deaf, in being mute I have a serious hurdle to overcome when out in public. It is a part of the reason that I often choose to have someone with me when I go out.

Still, I do plenty of errands and tasks out and about on my own, and you cannot imagine how often I run into problems. Whether I go out with paper and pen, my tablet to type messages on, or my phone that has multiple text-to-speech apps to use… there’s just some people that are completely intolerant to the hurdles involved with being non-vocal.

These people? Lift my chin and show them the scar so that they can understand I have no voice? And all you get is an “EW, WTF MAN?? That’s gross.”

There’s no empathy. There’s no understanding. No compassion. There’s no -effort- at all on their part.

I’ve had people I’ve tried to communicate with just snort at me and walk away. I’ve had them literally call me a “retard” and tell me that I shouldn’t be allowed outside my home alone.  These are people that work in a customer service industry.  Waiters, cashiers, retail employees…. people that should have SOME sort of temperance and make some sort of effort to understand and communicate.

I’m not a goddamned cripple.  I’m not mentally handicapped.  I don’t need a babysitter. I’m a grown fucking man that was attacked, died on my kitchen floor, and was brought back by paramedics to find myself forever  irreversibly injured in that attack.  I can communicate just fine as long as the other person is willing to put in a little effort beyond using their ears.   And yet?   That kind of behavior shown by the waiter in that show?  Is so very common.

It was really nice to see the people that stepped up, but as someone that deals with this issue on an everyday basis?  I can tell you from first hand experience, those kind souls are few and far between.   In my experience?  Most people would rather turn their head and pretend it’s not happening.

I don’t know why I’m posting this.  I think I just had to get it out.

 

Out of Line

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OK, before I do my meditation today, I need to get something off of my chest that’s been weighing on me all morning.

I was really out of line last night, and I am so sorry for it, and for hurting you.

Other than during the last year before coming back to me in full, you have always been the most selfless person I know when it comes to me. You always put me first, you always pay attention and watch closely, you always see so much more than I’m usually trying to show. You always push for what’s in my best interest.

To accuse you of trying to make something “all about you” was so grossly out of line. I don’t know why my temper flared like it did, but the words that came out of me… they were just wrong. On so many levels.

I’m so sorry. I hate that I said that to you. I hate that it will be there between us now and forever, no matter how much I wish I could take it back.

I love you.

Gideon’s Challenge

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Aghast

Because how the hell could anyone think putting two toddlers in an oven and turning it on would be a good idea.

Washington Post Article

I’m sorry, but mental health issues can only go so far to explain away people’s behavior.   To me, this is far and beyond fucked up.

Gideon’s Challenge

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Annoyed

Early Dawn

So… Stupid humor irritates me.   Case in point, I’m watching Perry Mason and the commercials come on, and here’s this orchestra.   And all of a sudden the triangle player loses his fucking shit ALL over the place.

Seriously stupid.   And completely annoying.

Although… to be fair, it’s possible the commercial has extra annoyance power due to the sound of that triangle going on and on and on and on and on and on.

But it’s still stupid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss_8CfBabmc

Kaleidoscope (Part 6)

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Abandonment

With the last installment of the Kaleidoscope series, we come full circle to a sense of abandonment. Because… that’s where I ended up. By the time I came to you and told you that I thought that you needed to go and start talking to someone about your depression, I was alone… and had been for some time.

This should be apparent by the other kaleidoscope posts, and yet, it’s more than that.  It’s that clear and aching sense of being left bereft and alone.  An odd dissonance, because I was and am still in a relationship with you… and yet, I was also alone. Left alone to deal on my own. A situation that created a sense of betrayal and resentment, because without intention I had come to depend upon you.

Dirty Pacifier

That secure spot of comfort and safety was removed from my reach.   I had tried so hard in the beginning to not depend on it.   To not need it.   And then when I did, it was taken away like a handful of sand slipping though one’s fingers.

Two years passed while I slipped further and further beneath the surface of hurt and betrayal and loss and anger and resentment.  It didn’t happen all at once, but one fraction of a millimeter at a time, nearly imperceptible in the moment other than those few rare sparks of occasional awareness.

I had to bury that part of myself, that soft and vulnerable need.   I had to, to protect myself.   It only made this sense of abandonment worse to put that small part of me in a box and close the lid.

Abandonment is separate in the series because it is its own animal.  It’s own monster.  It stands on its own and feeds the anger in ways the others don’t.   That’s why its last and alone as I reveal it to the light.    At the core, my anger comes from here.  All the other hurts and slights feed this one.  It is the monster in the closet, lurking and ravenous, eating up every slight, every hurt and ache and sadness.  It swallows it all up and keeps the anger burning.

It is the beast that lurks in that ball of fear in my gut as well.  The one that reminds me again and again not to trust, the one that says its not over, that you’re not back. It is an insidious whisper in my ear, always there to remind me not just of where I am, but what happened to get me here.

Kaleidoscope (Part 5)

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Taking Up the Reigns

I closed down that vulnerable part of myself… and I began to pick up the weights you dropped and filled my pockets with them. I took control with stronger characters in our play, and I took up the responsibility of decision making that was once yours. I struggled to negotiate with others and be sociable, did my best to fill your shoes the best I could in the ways I was able.

Somewhere along the lines, I realized what I was doing. I realized you were no longer acting as my dominant, and that I was beginning to take on that role.

onbkbruqI began to feel weighted down. It was… so heavy. It was too much weight for me, but I refused to let it show and continued to pick up the heavy stones you dropped and pocket them anyway. Not doing so would mean letting go of your hand, and for me that wasn’t okay.

Baby the Babysitter

When Cognito was built, I buried myself in the work, knowing it was all on me to make the dream come alive.

I established rules for you, because you had no self control of your own. Your fear of losing me made you irrational. You were scrambling to gather up stones, yet all you were gathering was pebbles and you weren’t even noticing that the pebbles were NOT the weighted stones you’d dropped so long ago.

You couldn’t even be bothered to read through the faq and help me edit, or dig for information. Not until I pushed you for it. Even then, a good amount of your participation was somewhat lackadaisical in nature.

And once built, we were… quite directionless. Off kilter. Our dynamic was no longer fluid and smooth. Not two people walking in stride any longer, but only two people walking side by side instead.

And all that weight I was carrying… It was so heavy. So goddamn heavy that my spine was aching and my knees were beginning to buckle beneath it all.

All you wanted, all the time, was reassurance that I wasn’t leaving. No matter what I said or how often I said it, you wouldn’t believe me. Your cling began to have claws that scrabbled and scratched at me in your desperation.

I began to work more and more, trying to find relief from that weight more than anything, although it’s true that I desperately needed the money as well.