I’ve been hearing the term “dysfunctional family” here lately and don’t know entirely what it means. There are many different interpretations found on the internet for dysfunctional.
The following is a partial list of these reasons: perfectionism, addiction, abusiveness, depression, communication, emotional neglect, jealousy, guilt, lack of empathy, lack of boundaries, controlling, insecurity, extramarital affair, lack of intimacy, and finance. Thankfully, I don’t meet any of these definitions.
I’m not sure who decides if a family is dysfunctional or not, as the judgment behind such a decision seems to be subjective. I asked a friend to name a family that he considered dysfunctional, and he immediately answered, “The Royal Family.”
I suppose that’s a valid answer going by the above list of credentials, yet who wouldn’t be maladjusted having mega photographers and tabloid reporters watching your every move, 24/7/365.
Being a former mechanic, dysfunctional to me means windshield wipers not working or blinkers doing the same. Where unusual habits of people like the Windsor family of Great Britain are concerned, I generally chalk it up to quirkiness and not dysfunctionality.
Most every family has a quirky member or two. The Windsor’s seem to be blessed with a significant number of such people. As Mom often said, “It takes all kinds to make the world go ‘round!”
Judging by the mechanical definition of dysfunction, most of my senior friends, if not all, are part of a large dysfunctional contingent. I won’t mention names, but there’s bad knees, hips, eyes, ears, legs, arms, hearts, and even fingers and toes within this group.
Some time ago, I saw an unusual decal on the back window of a car in our city. Each stick family member pictured had a problem. The husband holds a bottle of booze, while his wife is angry and abused. An older son grasps a cannabis joint between two fingers while the youngest boy wields a knife. Little sister of all things is a pole dancer. The dog is even featured—with it apparently having an identity crisis. A fancy ruffled collar was wrapped around its neck.
I’m not sure how a perfect family would be characterized these days, as society and Hollywood have seemingly destroyed what’s known as the nuclear family. A nuclear family is one having a father, mother, including children. Some early television sitcoms such as, “All in the Family” and “Married with Children,” intentionally made nuclear families out to be dysfunctional. “The Simpsons” animated series is perhaps the worst.
It appears there’s an attempt to totally wipe out the definition of ‘family’ from what it once meant. Nothing proves this more than a decal recently observed on the back of a Toyota pickup window. In it, a Jeep is attempting to chase a stick family down. At the bottom of the decal are these words: “Nobody cares about your stick figure family!!!”
After seeing that, I had to wonder about the person driving this Toyota, and what was his reasoning behind displaying such. It didn’t take long for my brain to come up with a logical, armchair-psychologist answer.
“The driver is probably overweight and has a dislike for thin people, along with having a warped sense of humor!”
Getting a much better view of him at the next light, my hunch was right. The seemingly large guy met one of the dysfunction criteria, that of being addicted to food. This decal was his way of getting back at society.
For those about to lecture me that the young man could’ve had a medical problem, please stand down. For crying out loud, he was eating what appeared to be a pastry of some kind. I added those first four words for unnecessary emphasis and nothing more.
Eons ago, I had a boss that used the phrase quite often. One day, I faked as if I was crying out loud to see what he’d do. The former Army sergeant was none too pleased with my sarcastic humor. Anyway, getting back on track here.
Where this young man’s vinyl message was concerned, I wasn’t offended and got a hoot out of it. What I didn’t like is that it wasn’t perfectly aligned on the glass. Having been an employee that installed decals on Alaska State Trooper cars for several years, I notice trivial stuff like that. These days, I especially watch for misaligned business signs and placards on cars and trucks.
Realtors seem to be the worst offenders. How can these people sleep at night knowing that their decals aren’t square to the rest of the vehicle? I know I couldn’t until things were corrected.
It’s like walking into someone’s home and seeing a painting or picture hanging off-kilter on the wall. I don’t know about you, but I want to walk over and immediately straighten it. In some cases, I have.
I like to write junk... 