I thank you all, especially No*s and Prima for telling the truth of your young lives. I must say, my dear ones, that I would gladly take the pains of your life if it would relieve you of these memories.I would give anything to take this away from you. These memories were extremely hard to share, I am sure. I thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I feel I must point out the fact that at this time of night, 11:45 p.m. there have been 103 viewings of this thread. You will never know whose life you might have touched by sharing your story.
Perhaps I assume too much, beloved. I assume that we all understand right from wrong. Maybe that isn't exactly the case. Perhaps each individual's version of right and wrong differs, depending on their environment, and the things that have been taught by word or example. Perhaps in Prima's case, there was too much burden taken upon herself to be the mother.
This is an awesome task for a young one, and her cutting stemmed from this burden.Her subconsious rebelled and cried out for help in the act of cutting. In No*s case, all he witnessed seemed normal. They were not drunkards, so what was wrong with what the did? To a young person, perhaps it seemed to be the normal way of life. So one might be inclined to experiment with that experience. Obviously though,there was fear there, otherwise why retreat to the field,with the animals? At the same time there was curiosity, albiet a morbid one at the time, as to what pleasure would be gained by inflicting fear and pain. In other words if my family does it then there must be something to it, no? What am I missing? It might have just been seeking to understand. Apparently both of these lovely people have gotten past these terrible parts of their lives. I am truly happy for them. I hear their words on the forum and I see kindness, compassion and love. This is why I will always hold out hope for every person. If we are strong, we can let go of the past, forgive those who were a dark part of our past and move on. Those people had their choices and so do we. Can we blame them for our behavior? Well in retrospect and to some degree, yes we can. If it wasn't for their influence on our lives, we would have never experienced certain aspects of life, certain ways of understanding. If all I learn is hatred, or destruction, if that is all my young life is exposed to, then how can I say that they cannot be blamed in some way.
The human mind is a truly marvelous and complicated thing. The day that I find myself figuring it out, is the day that I will start charging a small fee to impart my wisdom. As of this time, my dears, my advice is free.
In the mean time, I think it would behoove us to step back before making a hasty judgement against another person. When we know the reasons why, then perhaps we can have a dialog. I am not saying that this will fix the ills of the world, but it is a start. There is always a reason behind the Why, but we must look very deeply sometimes. IMHO
Martha
. My Mother's side of the family simply considers me a nut, but they were never nearly as cruel either and that's the perennial status quo 
