Editor,
A man beaten horribly as a kid by his alcoholic father learned to endure the beatings with not even a whimper in order not to give his father the satisfaction of seeing his pain. As a grown man he is totally incapable of showing any signs of pain or sorrow. Many people think he is a cold fish, but he says they have no idea what goes on inside him.
Adults cannot beat kids into being good. Hitting kids beats evil deeper into them! Spanking teaches them: make people obey you out of fear and pain, hit those you love when you are angry. Hitting kids teaches them NOT to respect their own bodies and other people’s bodies. Many kids who are beaten later abuse their bodies with booze, cigarettes, other drugs, junk food...Many kids who are beaten grow up to abuse others – through family violence, street gangs and in the worst gang of all, as soldiers waging war!
If only some adults had known Albuquerque’s Greg Griego was severely abusing his son Nehemiah and had called the authorities – resulting in strong intervention with deep family counseling, Nehemiah’s murder of his parents, two sisters and brother could probably have been prevented! Did Nehemiah confide in any adult about his growing rage at his father’s abuse? Was his father also beaten as a kid by his father?
My family had serious problems. If my father had beaten me as Nehemiah’s father beat him and if our home had had guns, would I have murdered and gone to prison? None of us can say for sure that if we had suffered as Nehemiah did, we would not have committed his atrocity. We all are more than the worst thing we ever did or almost did ... With much help, we can wake up! We can change!
Don Schrader
