Addendum to the Princess and the Pea.

Three things I want to add...

Who qualifies as a Prince or Princess?
Not only sons and daughters are candidates for the title of Prince and Princess. Mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, cousins, friends ... anyone can act like a Prince or a Princess.

There are different degrees of the affliction:

The depth of the Prince and Princess affliction is measured by the difference between the size of the pea and the number of mattresses needed to conceal its presence from the Royal personage. The worst afflictions are those that occur when the pea is very small and the number of mattresses required is many.

What qualifies to be a Pea?
I would never consider ongoing abuse to qualify as a pea to be ignored. Many of us have ignored serious abuse for too long a time. Sometimes it takes someone else to point out the fact that we are trying to get sleep while lying on top of an alligator with only a sheet in between us and the alligator and we're still ignoring the alligator. An alligator does not qualify to be considered as an insignificant pea.

A pea is just a pea. Like our friend Aaron's allegation that his father's refusal to buy real estate near Aaron is proof of his father's rejection of him. His father's refusal to buy real estate is an example of a pea. If his father called Aaron names and told him that he didn't love him or care about him, then that would not be any kind of pea. That would be a rock hard uncomfortable unpleasant boulder and it would be understandable why Aaron wouldn't want to be around him.

Snicks