Once upon a time there was a bright eyed little baby girl born to a very dysfunctional royal family. Mom (The Queen) was Protestant and English, unpardonable offences to her in-laws, Dad (The King) a French Catholic Canadian Man's man with all his neolithic ideals intact and the Prince of the realm was a 6-year old genius with an identity crisis. Little did the Princess know what she was in for. The Prince wasn't very manly, in fact he was more interested in art than mechanics and hated getting dirty. As an infant he learned how to use a spoon before most babies were learning how to grab a Cheerio with two fingers, could be left on a blanket in a yard for hours because the grass felt icky and was therefore a terrible disappointment to the King. The King believed that all boys had to be tough, love dirt and grime and be able to do anything physically demanding. Since the Prince was more effeminate than expected, the Queen did all she could think of to mitigate the issue and make peace between the two.
When the Prince was four the Queen was told she was no longer able to bear children, however when the Prince was five she was granted a miracle that answered her prayers. The Queen was very excited to be able to have another child, a little worried about the age gap between her children and even more thrilled to find she was having a girl. The King was proud as well, but he had no expectations for girls, he only knew what it was to be a man, not a girl. He was soon delighted to find that his new little girl was about as feminine as a girl ever need to be yet also as masculine as a girl can get. She loved to run and explore, got into more trouble and more messes than the Prince and generally delighted the King in every way. Every complaint he had about his son was remedied in his daughter. The King's love was great for the Princess and she could do no wrong in his eyes, the Queen and Prince were not happy with this turn of events.
Although she didn't like the way the King favoured one child over the other, she couldn't do much to persuade the King that he should give his son a chance. The Prince on the other hand was too smart to let this baby take over his place, he was the only heir until she'd come along and he deserved all the glory and attention. It wasn't fair that he tried so hard and couldn't obtain the King's approval only to watch it go to an infant that hadn't earned a thing. The Prince also had six years of knowledge over his sister, it shouldn't be hard to manipulate her.
And so, the Prince set out to ensure that the Princess would never hold any power in the kingdom. His ability to talk circles around her and the Princesses natural temper (genetic trait from the King) and wish to please everyone became the Prince's tools of revenge. Soon the Princess was confused enough to doubt everything she thought she knew, filled with guilt and suicidal thoughts because she was convinced that she was worthless and stupid and unsure of others. The Queen was too busy taking care of the kingdom and the Princess' naturally cheerful manners disguised the torture she suffered. The King was always travelling to ensure the renewal of funds for the kingdom.
One day, when the Princess was six and her brother twelve, the King had an awful accident and died. The Prince had only recently made strides in his growing relationship with the King and the blow to his goals was more than he could take. He began to rebel almost from the start. The recreational drugs that were once just for fun were now essential to his life. There was no longer purpose to his existence, no longer a reason to strive for anything because the King whose acceptance he needed was now gone and that acceptance so much dust in the wind. In his youth and anger he turned on the Queen.
No matter what the Queen did to reign in her son he became more and more irresponsible. He would party, skip school, do drugs, drink and vandalize. As she watched her brother continue to hurt her mother, the Princess made a vow to always be the "good" child to ease the pain for the Queen. To always support, to always do the right thing and to listen to the Queen's advice no matter what. The King had been the love of her life, her world was gone and all she had were two kids and a mountain of bills to pay on her own, no need to add to her burden; the Princess would help where she could in her limited capacity at six and a half.
The Princess didn't realize though that her limited capacity to help was more limited than she thought. One day she tried to start supper for her mother, she'd helped make cakes and cookies and muffins, how hard could soup be? She filled a pot with water, added spices and herbs from the cupboard and started chopping a few vegetables with the knife her mother let her use when they cooked together. Alas the Prince came in to see what she was doing and proceeded to shout at her for being so stupid and sent her to her room for playing with the stove. He threw away all of the soup she'd worked so hard on and threatened to tell the Queen that she'd been playing and had ruined all that food for fun. The Princess knew this would just upset the Queen and she went to her room and kept silent. This laid out the pattern of the Princess' life. In order not to burden others with her complaints, the Princess simply withdrew into herself and tried to reason it out on her own.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions and the Princess was to find this out the hard way. She wished only to help everyone she met, she wanted to be useful and hoped one day that if she were good enough and smart enough and pretty enough that she'd earn the right to be loved just like the princesses in the stories she'd read since she was three. No matter what she did though she was admonished and tossed aside. She couldn't understand why her peers reviled her for her efforts, could not understand why her brother hated her so, could not understand why those that were supposed to care never wanted to help. She grew sullen and depressed. None of her questions seemed to have answers.
Why is it that we all agree that being selfish is bad but we all act selfishly in even the most minor of ways? Why do we believe it is bad to be stupid but refuse to put any effort into learning something? Why do we revere those that offer nothing of value to society and ignore those that truly benefit the world? Why do those in power claim to work for the people but refuse to listen when we tell them what we want? Why is it that children no longer listen to their parents and teachers? Why are our elders treated like secondary citizens when their wisdom should be revered? Why do big companies have more power than the people they were created to serve?
It took the Princess 35 years and much heartache to find the answers.
Rethinking Right has the answers, but they aren't pretty. They are incredible and fantastic and totally true, but you really don't want to know. The answers to these and more unanswerable questions will become clear if you stick around, but you really don't want to know. The truth is frightening and unbelievable and probably too late in reaching your ears. If you stick around for more you can't tell me I didn't warn you. All I ask is that you look into your own life for examples of what I am talking about. Don't just look at what I show you as my own "proof" open your eyes and look for it in your own life. If you can't find a single example of what I talk about you can walk away with all your ideals intact, if you do learn to see the signs I am going to show you be prepared to be terrified.
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