Monday, May 21, 2012

Unconditional Love Is The Cure


Recently I’ve fallen into a big funk.  A big funk laced with some melancholy and served with a hard chocolate shell of bittersweet.

Usually, I blame this kind of thing on my screwed-up gut or the peri-menopausal wackapoopoo my body seems to be throwing off these days. Hell, my poodle looks at me funny some days and I think I’m going to cry. (I feel so sorry for my husband.)

This time, however, I know exactly what set me off. And it’s not the gut-brain connection.

See, someone I know (but not so very well) posted one of those Facebook “postcards” on her page.  If you’re on Facebook, you know what I’m talking about.  The postcard said--



Her comment on the postcard read something like this--"wouldn't this be nice if it were true?" Yes, it would. It certainly would.

It sounds stupid of me, I know, but this really threw me for quite the emotional loop.  (I love butchering a good cliché.  It feels so subversive.)

One of my closest friends, who also has a child with autism, admonishes me every time I tell her about reading something like this.  Just don’t read that stuff, Alisa, she tells me. We’re not reading that stuff any more, remember?

I know, I know, but it’s RIGHT THERE.  On the News Feed

Look, I don't know who put together this "postcard."  (Is it a meme?  I'm not sure.)  These things travel around the Internet and Twitter and Facebook like STDs after a fraternity party.

But it just made me feel morose.  Gloomy.  Sullen.  Surly.

See, if unconditional love cured autism, my kid would have been cured so long ago.  No one loves my kid more than I do.  
NOBODY.  



(Ok, I’ll admit that maybe my husband loves Conor as much as I do.  But not more, no sir.)

I wonder? Do people with cancer have to read Facebook postcards that say—

The cure for breast cancer is unconditional love

Do men with erectile dysfunction have to read pillows that state—

The cure for ED is unconditional love

Is there a needlepoint that points out that—

The cure for vaginitis is unconditional love

No, no they don’t.

Maybe whoever came up with this sentiment about unconditional love and autism should bottle up that unconditional love and sell it on eBay.  I bet they’d make gobs and gobs of money.  ‘Cause whatever unconditional love I got ain’t really working over here.

I’m gonna go take more fish oil capsules.  Maybe that’ll make me feel better.

4 comments:

  1. There's just so much crap on line about autism, and if your guard is momentarily down it can kick your arse.
    I elect to cure my kid's autism with a nice glass of pinot noir (for me, of course).
    XXX

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  2. I'll have a glass of pinot with you on that one!

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  3. I can't even touch this one. Katie would be the most typical kid on earth if LOVE was the cure. I really don't read any of that FB stuff.

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  4. I know, Jen, it's true. I would like to meet the person who made the graphic to ask them what they meant by it. Taken a face value, it's such pap.

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