The Splash of Wisdom

O ne evening a grandson was talking to his grandmother about current events. The grandson asked his grandmother what she thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general. The Grandma replied, "Well, let me think a minute. I was born before television, penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses, Frisbees and the pill. There were no credit cards, laser beams or ball-point pens. Man had not invented pantyhose, air conditioners, dishwashers, clothes dryers, and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and man had yet to walk on the moon. Your Grandfather and I got married first and then lived together. Every family had a father and a mother. Until I was 25, I called every man older than me, "Sir"- - and after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, "Sir". We were before gay-rights, computer-dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy. Our lives were governed by the...

Thomas A. Harris in his book, "I'm OK--You're Ok," says that all people are structurally alike in that everyone has a Parent, an Adult, and a Child. He points out that we differ in two ways.We differ in the content of Parent, Adult, and Child, which it is unique to each person, and we differ in the functioning of the Parent, Adult, and Child. There are two kinds of functional problems: contamination and exclusion. These three ego states should stay separated which is ideal. Diagram of three ego states overlapped. The overlap as shown above is contamination of the Adult by dated, unexamined Parent data which is externalized as true. This is called prejudice. For instance, beliefs such as "white skins is better than black skins," "right-handedness is better than left-handedness," and "cops are bad" are externalized in transactions on the bases of prejudgment, before reality data (Adult) is applied to them Prejudice develops in early childho...