OBJECT PERMANENCE: WORKING FOR A BETTER LIFE EVERY DAY

 Object permanence typically starts to develop between 4-7 months of age and involves a baby’s understanding that when things disappear, they aren’t gone forever. 

The first time I heard the words ‘Object Permanence’ I liked it.

“When things disappear, they aren’t gone forever” makes me happy.

As adults we remember the past and remember when things were different than they are now, but they’re gone forever?

That’s a long list.

As a sports fan I recall reading about a baseball pitcher who always closed his eyes after each throw.

When asked why, he said something to the effect of, “I close my eyes in case the batter hits a ball straight at the mound. If I can’t see the ball, the ball can’t see me.”

Funny then, funny now, but with the idea of object permanence, I’d like to see how the baseball player does in a game of peek-a-boo.

“Why couldn’t you find us?”

“I had my eyes closed.”

Game over.

Object Permanence In Real Life

Let’s agree on the concept that out of sight isn’t always out of mind.

Face it, we remember things, sometimes too many things. So much that it can be overwhelming.

Have you heard this complaint: “I can’t seem to turn my brain off at night and go to sleep.”

If you’ve heard it, you’ve probably offered a solution. Hopefully it’s not, “Just close your eyes and go to sleep, how hard can it be?”

After talking to someone struggling with depression, don’t say, “Hey, it’s all in your head. Snap out of it.”

Anxiety ridden people don’t want to hear, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m nervous too.”

If that’s you, and you’ve never encountered depression and anxiety with anyone you know it’s because they hide it from you. They hide if from themselves, too.

Look at the weird stuff people do, stuff you can’t figure out, stuff that’s not on your scale of ‘normal.’

Their habits, tics, their impulsive actions, are all signs of working through things their own way.

You, or someone you know, needs to check the door they just locked, the door you saw them lock, the same door they locked but still need to review a few dozen times?

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition that involves distressing, intrusive, obsessive thoughts and repetitive, compulsive physical or mental acts.

Mental health struggle doesn’t come with a sign, but it’s as real as anything else. Even if you can’t see it.

What Else Can’t You See

I’m old enough to remember the start of the Covid19 pandemic. The first question was what was this bad thing, and how do people get it?

More important, how do we stop the spread.

Luckily, science came to the rescue, but not too soon.

Unfortunately, the initial charge to conquer Covid was led by a misguided moron without enough sense to pout pee out of a boot with the directions on the heel. The same numb-nut stared into a solar eclipse in spite of the lifelong warnings we’ve all heard to not look directly at the sun.

He had help in downplaying the deadly virus.

With the blow horn of Fox News spewing misinformation to gullible rubes, medical doubt trumped medial science.

Even after being treated, or vaccinated, some of the same leaders continued sewing mistrust into their followers.

Eventually enough people in America took another direction while unqualified hacks mulled home remedies. For true believers in ignorance over education, their heads remain lodged so far in that the sky is permanently brown instead of blue.

When a large swath of the population disregards what’s in front of them for a more convenient truth laden with an extra helping of bullshit, anything can go wrong.

Don’t ask them the bridge question, or the insurrection question. Would they jump off a bridge if everyone else was jumping? Would they attack the Capitol at the urging of a cult leader?

We know one answer for certain.

The Lesson Of Object Permanence Is Reality Test

Between four and seven months a baby understands reality.

If you put one of their toys out of sight, and you let baby see where you put it and they find it, they pass the reality test and parents celebrate.

What’s a good test for the adults who fail to recognize a threat that has taken over 600,000 American lives?

The boot test is good enough? Too hard? Don’t be a baby.

Instead, let’s start with something easier, like trying to find you ass with both hands. You have ten minutes to work this out.

Ready? Go. The clock is ticking.

You can do it.

If you’ve been vaccinated, and know others, give them thanks for not being part of the recurring problem.

Thank you for making a difference in a reality based lifetime.