A comparison, if you will. You've given yourself permission not to worry about the ways you're not able to take care of yourself at the moment. I agree with the decision to let go of that guilt, and I hope the time will come soon when you can start picking those things up. It's a good decision. For you, it's almost certainly temporary.
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Date: 2006-11-02 04:36 pm (UTC)What if it wasn't? What about the person who slipped through the cracks of school until she left at age fifteen with no literacy to speak of? What happens to her when she finds herself, at 22, with two kids, a minimum-wage job, an apartment she can't afford, and practically no possessions? Who's going to help her learn to read properly? Who's going to teach her how to dress or write a resumé? Who will show her how to help with her kids' homework? Who will look after her kids for a price she can afford? And how can she make the choices required to improve this situation, when she's faced every day with the prospect of being out on the street the next? Stress limits one's ability to deal with things. Chronic stress is stunting in its effect on initiative. Even if she had some of that to begin with, several years of chronic stress and no apparent end in sight would kill it.