More on Role Modeling for P-Kids
from Roger D.

Hi Ed:  I would like to respond to Laura B.'s letter last month [(Be a Role Model for P-Kids].

As you and other visitors here know by now, I've lifted the veil as far as anyone possibly can when it comes to not hiding my P [Roger is a card-carrying nudist. –Ed]. And over the years I've had a lot of children ask me about my condition. I've always been patient and honest with them, and they have never failed to respond positively to that. I would hope that sticks with those children in the years ahead. Does that make me any kind of a role model? I'm not sure. Maybe more a walking, talking textbook, which I think is just as important.

I can't really address the issue of a child with P since I have never encountered one. But I can relate in some sense to what may have been happening with the man in question. Several years ago I was offered a job in a state run facility caring for mentally retarded and other special needs children. I could not take that job because I was overwhelmed by the emotions their plight stirred within me.

Perhaps this man found himself in a similar situation. In a different setting, minus the element of surprise, perhaps the encounter would have been more pleasant and productive for both. At least I would hope so.

I fully agree that we all need as much positive reinforcement as we can get. Laura’s son is very fortunate that Laura is so supportive and I hope that as time goes by Hunter will meet others psoriatics who will reinforce the good values Laura is instilling in him now.

To Laura I say: Keep up the good work and know you have friends and supporters here if nowhere else. -Roger D.

*****

Ed’s Response:  Thank you, Roger.  Your observation is right on about what might have been going on in the man’s head who walked away from Hunter’s inquiries about his psoriasis.  Reading your possible explanation for the man’s behavior was one of those forehead-slapping experiences for me.  Of course!  I could easily imagine myself being so overwhelmed with emotion that flight was my only response.  In a sense, that was what I was doing when I left Atlanta.  I could have stayed to meet my client’s psoriatic daughter, but I did not.

Thanks for showing us another facet to the situation.  One thing I’m convinced of, in the Hunter/Stranger encounter, emotions were leading the action, not intellect. -Ed

This Month's Mail | Archives