"Privacy and the Lack Thereof"

I believe everyone enjoys their privacy. Whether it be a long soak in a bubble bath, or holed up in the den, reading a good book, private time, in my estimation, is something everyone needs just to stay balanced.

In the Haunted House, there was NO privacy. As children, we were bathed by Mother....very roughly, always. We grew up poor, with no running hot water, or even a bathroom. We stood on a chair, in the kitchen, were striped of all our clothing and then washed. Even as children, we felt exposed, degraded, ashamed.

As we grew older, the bathing, by Mother stopped, but the invasion of privacy increased. If my head was in a book, Mother ripped it away from me to find out what I was reading. She went through our school notebooks, our pockets, walked in on us, while we were bathing, she even found the key to our Diary and read it, from front to back. To this very day, when we visit her, she finds an excuse to come into the bathroom while we are using it!

As a result, we MUST have our privacy! Not just in the bathroom, everywhere! It's not just needing our privacy, it's an obsession. We have lived most of our lives, alone. We did marry, twice, but those marriages did not work. We are happier alone and can enjoy our privacy. What is the reason for this great need for privacy? ASK.com gives this definition of privacy:

1. 1. The quality or condition of being secluded from the presence or view of others.
   2. The state of being free from unsanctioned intrusion: a person's right to privacy.
2. The state of being concealed; secrecy.

Do you see the "trigger" words we are seeing? Secluded from the presence or view of others, being free from unsanctioned intrusion, secrecy.....and a person's right to privacy! Our conclusion, Agoraphobia and the great need for privacy go hand in hand.

Poem Time:

Chaffed, raw, reddened child's skin,
Punishment for just being.

Tears of pain, cries, pleading
Never heard or just ignored.

Secrets of youth, stolen without regard
Privacy, a myth, never real.

What cost, privacy
Life alone in seclusion.

"US"

"The truth about our childhood is stored up in our body and although we repress it, we can never alter it. Our intellect can be deceived, our feelings manipulated. our perceptions confused and our body tricked with medication. But someday the body will present its bill, for it is as incorruptible as a child who, still whole in spirit, will accept no compromises or excuses, and it will not stop tormenting us until we stop evading the truth".