Tangled Webs and Elbow Grease

If I was not doing a chore fast enough, my mother would say I needed to use more "elbow grease". I guess I was a slow poke. Yet I remember having speed contests, specifically with older brother, Robert (RIP).

What does this have to do with homelessness? Well, I think I recently blogged about something The Homeless Guy wrote, regarding childhood, low self-esteem and future homelessness. This series of posts began with the feeling of getting depressed by the minute. One person replied to the NBHS Zebra status update, saying her mother (or perhaps father) always saying "I love you" or something equivalent ~ I will have to go back and reread it. One person.

I read somewhere several years back about relationships ~ mainly of the romantic kind. Couples who stay together, may fight, as much or as often as any other couple, yet the overall communication style is more positive than negative. Another thing I read, several years prior: Positive egos do not grow in negative environments.

Is it that my parents never complimented their children? Nor parents of students, some graduated same year as myself, others much younger, some older? To best of my knowledge, NBHS Zebra's oldest friend is 3 years younger than my mother who was born in 1917.

Or is it, that the negative words our parents said were, a) repeated often, b) more damaging, thus leaving a lasting impression upon us?

Do not recall if my mother quoted Shakespeare when she recited "What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive," but once or often or to me or another sibling or in general. I do recall the first time she accused me of lying when I was not. That incident was so traumatic to my young self, it was remembered every time, as a way older adult, every time someone would accuse me of doing something I did not do.