When the Children Cry

Michael sits in the closet.  He hears the screams, the crying, each blow that lands on her.  He cries along with her because he doesn't know of anything else to do.  Finally, after what seems like hours, a door slams.  Michael hears her call him, "It's okay, sweetie.  You can come out now."  He cautiously steps out of the closet.  His mother has a black eye.  Her lips is busted.  She smiles through her tears and tells him he can go to bed now.  It's over.  For now.

Katie spends her nights in fear of hands reaching through her doorway.  Her body being violated.  Her mind filled with things that a child her age should not have any knowledge of.  She has trouble sleeping as she waits for those hands.  The hands of a monster.  The hands attached to the man who is supposed to protect her from monsters.

Lisa gets a rush from the pain.  She likes the feeling of the cool steel against her wrist.  It makes her feel powerful to watch the red blood flow.  She likes that.  Warm blood.  Cool steel.  Power and control.  She wonders why they don't notice her.  Why they don't understand how much she hates doing this to herself.

Drugs.  Sex.  Violence.  These are not conditions that any child should have to grow up in.  Yet, so many children do.  They grow up.  They are changed by their environment.  Psychiatrists give them medications.  They are diagnosed with bipolar disorder, conduct disorder, anxiety disorder, and lots of other disorders.

The medication doesn't fix their behavior problems.  The problem is their broken souls.  Parents decide that they  have too many problems.  "I can't handle him anymore."  Is it because he refuses to take your beatings now?  Is she acting out sexually because of the sexual abuse she endured as a child?  Is he using drugs because you did the same thing when he was little?

JG knows what it's like to witness domestic violence.  His parents were acoholics.  He understands poverty.  JG did not know what it was like to live in a home not infested with roaches until he moved into his dorm in college.  He knows how it feels when your father beats you.  JG puts the handcuffs on your wrists.  He fills out some paperwork you don't understand and tries to explain the legal system to you.  You're assigned a number.  Alpha 7.  Delta 2.  Bravo 8.  JG goes back to his office and weeps for you.