If Freud is correct and my adult actions are the fruit of my childhood, then there is good reason why on Thursdays I am the neighborhood trash man. Our trash goes on Thursday mornings and on my daily walk with Jazz I pick up the week’s accumulation of miscellaneous things piggy people toss out their car windows – Dunkin Donut coffee cups, beer cans, water bottles, etc. I drop them into people’s trash containers while still at the curb. The Freudian connection is when I was really little and lived in the city, once a week a man would come by with a horse and wagon calling out, “Trash, Clothes, Cans, etc.” His horse was wonderful and I wanted one. So whenever I was asked what I wanted to be I always replied that I wanted to be a trash man. That way I could have my very own horse. I never did own a horse but I can still be a trash man.
One doesn’t have to be a Freudian scholar to understand the inherent truth regarding childhood’s influence on adulthood. We are the product of many things but the main ingredient is what we learned in our formative years. Little ears and little eyes are watching and absorbing – especially the attitudes and ideas expressed by mom and dad. Sometimes the role models can be so bad children determine not to be like that. But we shouldn’t hope for that to happen. Over 75% of children ultimately adopt the value system and behavior patterns of mom and dad. Children don’t say with it words or flowers but they do want to be like and will be like their parents. Then of course there is the role model of our heavenly Father. He’s the ultimate role model.
Written by Roger Bothwell on December 4, 2015
Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org