Daily Archives: July 9, 2008

•

For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (ESV)
But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (NIV)

It occurs to me that the "narrow path" may be envisioned as not only a road with forks and corners (as many of us envision the "straight and narrow") -  but also as a sort of "foot path" - a straight and narrow foot path, making its way surely and carefully along the ridge of a mountain.

In the Badlands, and similar places, on one side of a path you will find a flat place - filled with cacti, sharp growing things, and maybe a few snakes and creepy crawly things.  On the other side is a steep and slippery slope.  If you step off the edge, you do not know how far you will slide.

In Michigan, on a Lake Superior cliff, I found a path.  On one side was a deep and dark woods, complete with poison ivy - a lot of it. On the other side, a steep slide into the pounding waves.

The path is there for a reason.  Somebody wise knew it was safe there.  The One who created the path gave us the Way.  Those who have gone before traveled the path safely.

On the path is safety.  Off the path is danger - and a slippery slope.

In a debate, "slippery slope" can be a logical fallacy (see here for "In Defense of the Slippery Slope")

It may also be a pattern.

The thing is...life is not a debate and there are slippery slopes that are real.  And have real dangers.

For example...any guess where the likes of Todd Bentley might end up?

•

A while ago I did a research paper on "Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder" and did a Yahoo! search (yes, that long ago) for "adult ADD".  My search results were an entire page o:

  • ADD ADULT sounds to your web page!
  • ADULT images ADD to your hits!

and so forth.

I learned that even if one is NOT "the H" (hyperactive), it's a good thing to add it to the search string.

I got my "official" diagnosis when my son was in third grade.  I took Ritalin for a while and the folks I worked with at the time could tell when I didn't "take my meds".

When I went to talk to the psychologist, I took my elementary school report cards...if "ADHD" had been around then, I think I would have been a good example.  The problem is, many girls are "missed" because "ADHD" tends to manifest along gender lines.

Girls tend to be "space cadets" and boys tend to be the "wild child".  So boys get drugged and girls get passed over.

My personal belief is that ADHD is not a "disorder", it is a personality type.  Distractable?  YES!  a mental disorder?  No.

Here is a link to a paper I wrote to explore the "disorder vs personality type" idea.

How does this personality type manifest in me?

  • easily distractable.  I use a kitchen timer for almost everything!
  • "Leaps" in logic - how do I get from one place to another?  I just do...and although sometimes others fail to see the connection, most often I can explain it.
  • difficulty tracking conversations.  Especially on blogs - if there are more than 3 or 4 people on the "other side" (no matter what the topic is), I try to be very careful when replying, since I will most likely lose the train of the conversation.
  • Not seeing "personal".  Somebody will accuse me of "getting personal" and I will sit back and truly not know where or how.
  • Taking things personally - this I am getting better at.  Some people's issues are just their issues and have little or nothing to do with me personally.  Sometimes they do, most times they don't.

ADHD can be a fascinating thing to look at.  As with many people with ADHD(ADD) my IQ is high.  As with many people with ADHD/ADD, the common sense factor is sometimes low.

The more I work with people with special needs, the more this issue comes into play.   Shoot...the more I work with people, the more this issue comes into play.  Strategies, tricks to play on myself, ideas to stay focused.  All of these get attention.

And the classroom view of little boys...a whole different topic.