While I personally don't care what other people think of me or of what I do, I do care about my CHILDREN'S acceptance into the community.
My wife used to work in child care and my son was friends with one of my wife's co-workers adopted child.
This lady had been ostacized from her family for adopting an African child (As a single mother in Canada, the waiting list for a Canadian child would have literally been years. So she adopted a black child from Africa and had custody within 9 months).
We offered to babysit her daughter and our children frequently attended children's social events throughout the community with one another. Our children were best of friends who eagerly anticipated one anothers birthday parties or sharing a day at the beach on the weekend.
Then came the mistake of my wife's life. Inadvertently she told someone what I did for a living. The fallout was either laughable or horrendous, depending on your outlook.
My wife became a woman of, uh, "Pity and/or disgrace" for being victim of, or party to, her husbands despicable vocation. Co-workers frequently talked behind her back, because they didn't have the courage to speak to her face. OR, they spoke directly to her and tried to get the SPECIFICS on my livelihood. I could go on forever here, but this wasn't the point. My wife shouldn't have said a goddamn thing. She did. We live with the consequenses. As I said, I don't care WHAT others think of me. She does. To this day, she will say, that was the biggest mistake of her life.
Back to the point.
While our children WERE inseperable, my wife and I had to explain to our 4 year old son, why he wasn't allowed to play with his best friend anymore.
How would you explain THIS to YOUR 4 year old child?
My advice is this.
If you have children than for your children's sake, keep your mouth SHUT! While YOU may not be embarrassed by what you do for a living, YOUR child MAY encounter difficulties in his/her life for the choices YOU'VE decided to make.
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