 | Department of Heuristics And Research on Material Applications Classified Information |
Dear MIKE SOLANO, The DHARMA Initiative would like to personally welcome you as a new member of our Viewing Station team. We are very pleased that you have decided to join us, and look forward to meeting you at the new recruit orientation meeting. Though your assignment will be short, our hope is that you will find it to be an enlightening and rewarding experience. Upon your arrival, you will be given a simple set of instructions for how you and your partner will fulfill the responsibilities associated with the station. Your primary function will be to observe the subjects of our studies. Every observation, regardless of how subtle, is to be processed and analyzed. Your station will be equipped with a large, high definition surveillance monitor. Do not attempt to use the television for anything. We understand you may still have some unanswered questions about The DHARMA Initiative, but please rest assured that any and all questions you may have will be answered upon your arrival to the island. A new recruit orientation has been scheduled for May 23rd at 6:00pm. All new recruits must report to the DHARMA Welcome Center, located at: 38 Tamworth Circle Bella Vista, AR. Your attendance is essential to achieving a greater understanding of the program. For your convenience, The DHARMA Initiative has provided complimentary travel arrangements. Please see your attached letter of confirmation and boarding pass from Oceanic Airlines, a proud DHARMA Initiative partner. Once again, the DHARMA Initiative would like to welcome you to our island, where we are building a prosperous future that can support, enrich, and cradle us all in a peaceful society. On behalf of the DeGroots, Alvar Hanso, and all of us at the DHARMA Initiative, thank you, and good luck. Namaste, Angela Solano The Dharma Initiative | |
Mother's Day celebrates a huge lie about the value of women: that mothers are superior beings, that they have done more with their lives and chosen a more difficult path. Ha! Every woman's path is difficult, and many mothers were as equipped to raise children as wire monkey mothers. I say that without judgment: It is, sadly, true. An unhealthy mother's love is withering. I hate the way the holiday makes all non-mothers, and the daughters of dead mothers, and the mothers of dead or severely damaged children, feel the deepest kind of grief and failure. The non-mothers must sit in their churches, temples, mosques, recovery rooms and pretend to feel good about the day while they are excluded from a holiday that benefits no one but Hallmark and See's. There is no refuge — not at the horse races, movies, malls, museums. Even the turn-off-your-cellphone announcer is going to open by saying, "Happy Mother's Day!" You could always hide in a nice seedy bar, I suppose. Or an ER.
It perpetuates the dangerous idea that all parents are somehow superior to non-parents. (Meanwhile, we know the worst, skeeviest, most evil people in the world are CEOs and politicians who are proud parents.)
Don't get me wrong: There were times I could have literally died of love for my son, and I've felt stoned on his rich, desperate love for me. But I bristle at the whispered lie that you can know this level of love and self-sacrifice only if you are a parent. We talk about “loving one's child” as if a child were a mystical unicorn. Ninety-eight percent of American parents secretly feel that if you have not had and raised a child, your capacity for love is somehow diminished. Ninety-eight percent of American parents secretly believe that non-parents cannot possibly know what it is to love unconditionally, to be selfless, to put yourself at risk for the gravest loss. But in my experience, it's parents who are prone to exhibit terrible self-satisfaction and selfishness, who can raise children as adjuncts, like rooms added on in a remodel. Their children's value and achievements in the world are reflected glory, necessary for these parents' self-esteem, and sometimes, for the family's survival. This is how children's souls are destroyed.I've been friends with women who have actually said to me that I can't know true selfless love unless I'm a parent. Did they not know how shitty that sounds?? How hurtful that can be to people who choose not to pro-create or how cruel that is to women who can't have children? Anyway, thanks Kat for posting that. I think it's fantastic and something that I really needed to read.
