I saw this in the context of someone dealing with cancer but I can think of lots of other situations – workplaces, volunteer organizations, schools, families, life during Covid in general – where everyone is encouraged to act as if everything is good and positive and happy instead of acknowledging that things might be less than great.
It’s not a perfect analogy but it sort of reminds me of an anecdote I remember Shea telling me.
One of her former coworkers said she hated to go downtown with her kids because they might see a homeless person. <gasp>
So instead of having a (yes, possibly tough) conversation with their children about addictions, economics or why there are might even homeless people, this person wanted to shield them from reality that things aren’t always good or positive or happy.
Same mindset, still wrong.