Thursday, January 14, 2010

Dysfunction in Black and White

In the 1950's Jackie Gleason starred in the popular TV series, The Honeymooners..  Nobody thought Ralph Kramden was an abusive sot for drawing back his balled fist and threatening to hit his wife, yelling red-faced (actually deeper shades of gray), “One of these days, POW, right in the kisser… To the moon, Alice!” -insert canned laughter here   Alice would snap back with sarcastic personal jabs about his fat stomach and poor income from his miserable job.  It didn't occur to me that this show was the poster child for dysfunction junction until years later.

I was dealing with my own dysfunctional family, with an alcoholic father (minus hitting and laughter) and nervous perfectionist mother. I thought our roller-coaster life was normal.  It wasn't until 8th grade, when I spent a few weekends with a friend, that I realized their Leave It To Beaver life was the epitome of a normal family.

No comments: