Castigated sugar

Castigate. Castigatory. Castigator.

 It is the thing one (in the royal sense) that one does, it is the thing that is done by the one that does it. The dictionary says that to castigate is to rebuke, in more easily understood parlance, to tell off. So what about the person who is castigated?  There is a poem, it is a well known one so I won't type it all in here...' if a child lives with criticism....'. Remember it? Well, in my experience (and I spent many years working in childcare), a child who lives with criticism fails to thrive, may develop behaviour problems, becomes afraid to act on their own initiative and so forth.

The same happens to adults too. The child who lives with constant criticism doesn't develop self respect and/or self esteem and becomes more likely to suffer from bullying at school or in the community. There have been some very sad instances of this in Britain recently. The adult who is criticised constantly loses self respect and self esteem and can become reluctant to make decisions (because they are always wrong) or act on their own initiative because they are always punished. The end result can be disastrous for the person who is criticised. It could even lead to them suffering from periods of depression, loss of motivation and the resulting issues that will bring.

There is an area in my life where I am becoming too afraid of the consequences to make any real decisions. There is an area in my life where I am failing to thrive. In this area I have responsibilities that I cannot face because my thoughts about what is happening around me leave no space in my head for anything else. The person who is doing this knows what they are doing and thinks (and has said) that I do not stand up for myself. Well, Castigator, I have news for you. I am bound by a code of ethics that you do not understand, and this code means that I must wait until the time is right and the circumstances demand that I act. I am waiting for Jesus. While you wait for the mouse to roar, remember that despite her sins, the mouse has Right - and rights - on her side. It isn't too late to make things right again, try it.
Are you experiencing similar issues? You can make a comment leaving an email address and I will respect your privacy by not posting the comment publicly.

Driving through a beautiful Cotswold town along a lane filled with those gorgeous Georgian apartment blocks, I stopped at some traffic lights. Glancing up at the apartments I saw a man with a duster in his hand wiping the window ledge clean. Neatly framed in the window he was an impressive sight - naked from the waist up, he was broad shouldered and muscular with just the right amount of sun tan. Unaware that he was causing a 'diet coke' moment amongst the ladies in the traffic queue, he dusted on. I'm not normally phased by a half naked man. The young men these days seem hell bent on displaying their backsides to all and sundry, determined to show us all that they do not wear Marks and Spencer's underpants under their falling down jeans. They have no effect on me at all. Plus, I'm not phased at all by the sight of a man with a duster after all, my better half is a whizz at the household stuff -  and he isn't bad in just his underpants either.

Nope, I don't know what it was about this chap, but into my head sprang a line from a 1970's song.

In the words of Lyndsey de Paul:-

'sugar me'.