I was looking through the feeds on the autism blogs directory, as I do everyday, and reading the various thumbnails, clicking through on those blog posts that I thought would be helpful to read, and I was struck again by the diversity of bloggers--the various opinions, beliefs, and experiences of them, and how it can be a bit disconcerting to be hit with this huge spectrum (pun intended) all on one page. 

"It takes more work to communicate with someone whose native language isn't the same as yours. And autism goes deeper than language and culture; autistic people are "foreigners" in any society. You're going to have to give up your assumptions about shared meanings." -- Jim Sinclair, "Don't Mourn For Us" 

We all say hurtful things to the ones we love. Some things we mean, and others we're just using the other person as a punching bag. Sometimes the damage we do with those words can't be undone and can't be healed, and relationships end. Parent/child relationships are different, though, or should be. As parents, we're supposed to develop thick skins and our children by the age of two are working hard to help us get those thick skins with their repeated cries of "I hate you!" ringing in our ears. Those words and feelings continue on through adolescence as we as parents impose order and rules on our children for their safekeeping.