Now, I know Provincetown has a lot of characters as full-time residents. I love them, even though I know I love them as one who is visiting. Yet, with these characters I sense among those who are here all season or all year that they get along and that they are appreciated. More about this later…
Now, there is another group of characters that fall in with the tourists. Of course. There is one segment, however, that I don’t think I can handle! I have seen more dogs in strollers (yes, baby strollers) being pushed along by women (and yes, they have all been women) these past few days then ever in my whole, entire life.
What? Frankly, this is not just too much. I’ve heard several women this week speak of themselves to their dogs as “mommy.” I was sitting in my room the other morning watching people come in and out of the coffee house across the street and checking e-mail. A woman comes out with three coffees in a carrier and says to her leashed dog, “Now, don’t pull mommy. I have coffee.” I’m afraid, truly, that these women are not just jokingly referring to their pets as “children,” as I know some do, but I think there is a misplaced maternal instinct going on and there is a confusion of what is an animal and what is a human baby/child. Intellectually I suspect they all know the difference, but emotionally, well, something is going on and I don’t think it is healthy.
Call me a misogynist if you must; call me a “humanist” if you must, but this just ain’t emotionally healthy. It is strange-funny how in a “therapeutic society” that it comes down to the norm being to not work through our problems so that we can come out the other side more healthy and free from the emotional ordeal, but that we revel in our psychoses and demand that everyone else call them good so that we can feel better about ourselves. We are truly a mixed up lot!