Herman and Me

I first met Herman about four years ago help the help of Tom Kohler, the local director of Citizen Advocacy. I won’t go into the details of Herman’s story (he’ll give that later), but it’s safe to say that the majority of people who have tried to “help” Herman have largely made him worse. Whether it was doctor’s prescribing various drugs, counselors deeming him too unstable to be in regular public school, or teachers using corporal punishment in his alternative school, they all probably thought they were doing right by him. The result of this is a young man who often wonders why people didn’t like him that much him he was a child. All he wants to do now is get a job and help out his mother.

His mother has dedicated herself to protecting him from a society that she is largely threatened by. This is good in the sense that Herman has never been influenced into trouble. However, it also means that he misses out on regular interactions that we all take for granted. I’ve slowly tried to introduce him to some of those interactions as he’s become more curious about them. At the same time Herman has showed me how silly some of those interactions are. “Why do people have to go to bars to meet each other?” I don’t really have a good answer to this question, but if you’re between the ages of 21 and 35 (Herman is 23 now) that’s the dominate place that young adults interact.

So that’s the question. Where are other places that young people can interact who don’t want to drink?

Library, church, coffee shop, Best Buy, etc…