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Dr. Susan Corso

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Mother's Day and the Universal Law of the Garbage Truck

Posted: 05/10/09 03:25 PM ET

If my clientele is any indication, many of us have psychospiritual garbage around our mothers. A client sent this story to me via email. It seemed perfect for the aftermath of Mother's Day.

"One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches!

"The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? That guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now understand as The Universal Law of the Garbage Truck.

"He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on.

"Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day."

So what does garbage have to do with Mother's Day? Plenty. Ever heard the adage ... forgive or relive? It's true. Forgive your mother. Do it for yourself, not for her. Otherwise you're stuck in recycling your garbage about her.

Think of it this way: your mother is not just your mother. She is a person in her own right, and she's doing (or did) the very best that she can with what she's got (or had) at any given time.

Have a blessed, garbage-free week!

Visit Susan Corso's website at www.susancorso.com.

 

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If my clientele is any indication, many of us have psychospiritual garbage around our mothers. A client sent this story to me via email. It seemed perfect for the aftermath of Mother's Day. "One d...
If my clientele is any indication, many of us have psychospiritual garbage around our mothers. A client sent this story to me via email. It seemed perfect for the aftermath of Mother's Day. "One d...
 
 
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12:09 PM on 05/11/2009
Some of us had pathologically sadistic, narcissitistic mothers. Even psychologists, brainwashed as they are, acknowledge that the only thing you can do is get the hell away from someone like this. No one I've ever read advocating for forgiveness defines the word or explains how (yes, I get the why) one does that to one's torturer. Some people are evil - that doesn't merit forgiveness. My mother, and many others, did NOT do "the best she could" - where the hell does it say that people who deliberately terrorize and brutalize helpless children don't have to be held responsible, or merit anything bet eternal contempt? If this were a father, what would you say - "I forgive you for raping, scaring, scarring, and humiliating me for 16 years, Daddy - I know you're just a person who did the best you could"?