Dear all:
Lactnet is actually the place I go for critical analysis of issues. I LEARN from critical analysis. It is great to chew over issues, think about them, and EVOLVE in my thinking. If everyone wrote that breastfeeding support was always hunky dory -- I would no longer need to work in the field and I could then go on to crocheting, or house painting, learning to snowboard, or if I found some other means of financial support --- finding a personal trainer to become the world's oldest female black belt.
I grew up in a small town, and I lived in a little bubble in a town in Africa where I was the only American (and consequently under the spotlight). And to be honest, our resident snoop in our apartment building actually turns our building into a small town. When you live in small towns, everyone watches everything you do all the time and comments on it. It is hard to achieve privacy and it can be very annoying. Yes, you do get criticized a lot. So, in some ways this can seem very intrusive and negative. And I'm sure everyone who has ever lived in such a situation has plenty of stories about the negative impact of a small town environment.
Yet, on the other hand, that community actually can be seen in a different light. When it works well, it can be the support system that kicks in when someone really gets into trouble, before they drop off the edge into some irrevocable act. When I lived in that small town in Africa, there was a guy with schizophrenia. He was actually always treated with a great deal of respect and allowed to go around his business. For some reason he liked to rearrange the stepping stones around my house every day. He was also, the only person in town who was allowed to speak out about Mobutu. The military police left him alone. He was a relief valve for the community. In the small town where I grew up, you could actually send mail without an address other than the town and the postmistress would put it in your PO Box because she knew everyone's PO Box. That actually happens in our apartment building as well by those who have lived in the building long enough to be in rent stabilized apartments. We know certain people will open the door when your hands are full and others will keep an eye on the elderly. When we had the big black out that paralyzed New York City for days we whispered to the firefighters who had to carry her upstairs to make sure not to embarrass her. She was a very clean and proper intellectual woman and had an accident because the elevator wasn't running. She would have been mortified had anyone noticed.
I think of Lactnet as a small town. You get to know that certain posters will have a particular take on issues and others will have a different take and the discussions can be quite illuminating at times, and redundant at others. These discussions, however, are very valuable in that the critical thinking involved helps use look at issues in a different light, examine our own views and allows us to shift or solidify our positions. What is important is that we are challenged and we do come to a fuller understanding of the issues as long as we keep an open mind while reading. And like siblings and relatives and neighbors we can get annoyed with each other and need a break.
If this listserve were a mere discussion of BREASTFEEDING IS BEAUTIFUL or WE ARE ALL DOING A GREAT JOB, I would probably not have learned as much as I have. It is the constant challenging of information and various differing perspectives that makes it a learning experience for me.
Best regards,
Susan E Burger, MHS, PhD, IBCLC
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