Brat Camp, Stephanie and the Truth

Steph and I watched a 5 hour marathon of the reality show Brat Camp today. We were both very annoyed by the way they "treated" these kids. These were kids, KIDS mind you, that had some serious emotional issues. Divorced parents, one that recently found out he was adopted, one who's father died recently, and one girl who was sexually molested when she was 12. The show applied different labels to these kids, like "Angry Punk" and "Habitual Liar" and labeled all of them as brats. The "therapists" treated them terribly. As if they were just a bunch of spoiled brats who decided to be obnoxious. These kids needed real therapy and, more than that, they needed someone to show them that they love them.

Now a few years ago I probably would have bought into this. I'd have probably said "what a bunch of punks" But I met Stephanie, and was amazed by how no-nonsense she was. She sees the truth in everything. And I mean the actual truth. Not the truth as filtered through politics and agendas and political correctness that I and most people tend to see. And it is not that she seeks to see through the fog. She just does. So if I say anything different, she looks at me as though I'm nuts. Simply put, the world never wants to accept the idea that maybe this person's parents did a bad job. But, you know what? It's probably true. So just deal with it. Some things are just a cop out. Babies are not a blessing! (more on that later)

The point is that I have always thought that most people can't see the world because they are too involved in that particular situation. Can't see the forest for the trees as they say. Turns out, I still did that myself sometimes. But no more. Stephanie worries sometimes if she is too blunt or if she sounds like a jerk, but the truth is, she just sounds honest. And it is refreshing for me, even if it is unsettling for those who are hiding in there little safety-zones.

-T