This will be a short blog. I have the question but not much of an answer. It started a few days ago when a friend and I were discussing a book we had read. It took us to the issue of family systems and my comment that caregivers require people who need care.
She corrected my language, asserting that I should be distinguishing between “caregivers” and “caretakers.” The emphasis, she pointed out, should be on the last half of the word. I guess in a way it might even be biblical, with the assertion that giving should be done in quiet, without advertising one’s largess, with genuine concern for the person receiving the care. Given that distinction, the term “caretaker” would refer to folks who need some sense of control or competence or superiority or something else, with the emphasis on satisfying a need of one’s own by way of tending to the needs of others.
1 comment:
I can't read Chinese, or Korean, or whatever this is. I do have a Chinese friend who can do that, but I don't want to bother her every time someone comments in this language. When she has translated in the past, it's been in one case obscene, and otherwise not really related to the content of my blog. So, please tell me -- in English so I can understand it -- why you are commenting on my blog? Do you think I can read this?
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