DESERT SANS OASIS

The quantum of love and affection one gets at home during childhood has a direct bearing on the kind of person one grows up to become. Excessive love verging on pampering can turn a person into a tantrum- throwing obstinate ass. And extreme dearth of affection can turn a person into an introvert.
In olden days when parents had half dozen or more children, the parental love got rationed amongst them, often in a lopsided way. The sibling that gets the least attention/ affection would grow up into an odd man out or to put it bluntly, an ‘oddball”. Such an oddball may either become a law-breaking criminal or a law-abiding introvert. The introvert nature of oddballs results in stunted growth of their social skills. The oddballs float around in the society craving for attention/affection. Those who get it in the early adulthood get rehabilitated and those who don’t, end up being erroneously perceived as ‘wackos” or eccentrics.
The hallmark of a wacko is his inability to express his affection for others. Or, rather, the ‘demonstrative” affection is alien to him. ‘Dear”, ‘my child” or other words of endearments don’t come naturally to him. So, he gets branded as ‘unfeeling”.
Social skills are basically the human tools of self-promotion through public relation. With a good PR job one can commit murder and still carry the halo of ‘goodness”. Poor wacko, lacking in such showmanship gets shunned.
Then, his ‘wacko-hood” finally turns into” pariah-hood.” For him the Pearly Gates are but a step away.