Posted by Racer on September 20, 2004, at 12:37:09
In reply to Trying to save the unsavable (my life mission?), posted by Shadowplayers721 on September 18, 2004, at 16:05:23
Maybe you're trying to save them as a way of "saving" yourself? Sort of like a form of Projective Identification -- if you can step in and save these critters, somehow someone or something will step in and save you?
Not, you understand, that the impulse is a bad thing, since it does show you to have a good heart, a capacity for empathy, and a high level of humanity and kindness. Just that it may also have a more personal side, relating to whatever brings you here.
For what it's worth, I have a similar pattern. I don't think it's all that uncommon amongst those of us who recognize and admit to our difficulties. Those people whom I've known who could do such things as abandon animals have all been the sort of determinedly unreflective people who do not admit to any psychological weaknesses or moral ambiguities in their own lives. Someone once said that the unexamined life is not worth living. Whether or not that's true, anyone who could abandon an animal -- let alone toss a kitten from a car window -- is not someone who would voluntarily examine his or her life, psyche, or impulses. Perhaps we can describe it as a sub-clinical sociopathy -- since it does require, as a major part of its foundation, an inability to empathize with others.
I send best wishes to that kitten. Let us know what the vet has to say.
poster:Racer
thread:392360
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040914/msgs/392991.html