Letters to the Editor
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Butter Sure Wouldn't Melt In Susan's Mouth
Hooray for you and your wonderful CONSTANTLY commented upon children -- sounds like something right out of The Stepford Wives -- but I digress, gentle reader (yet inwardly raging -- do I detected some serious issues here??). Physical & verbal abuse have no place in a civilized world, let alone a decent home . . . but as Rummy would say, "Stuff happens". People (not just kids, either) rebel and refuse to toe the line. People defy other people's rules for a variety of reasons -- they could be just plain spiteful, or they may see the rules as totally unreasonable and without purpose except to impose control. And the 'rudeness' doesn't have to be a backhand across the ear or screamed abuse. Take M, a young man who I've known for a number of years. During the time I've known him, I never once heard his single mom raise her voice to him or treat him in any way that could be ascribed by some as abusive. Rather, he was cowed into submission and humiliated until broken.
Think of mom as a Kathleen Turner type here, a woman who never raised her voice or raised the old cooking sppon as a threat:
"WE don't do things like that in OUR home, do WE M . . . "
"WE know that decent people shouldn't behave that way, don't we M . . . "
"If WE had clear consciences WE certainly wouldn't be wetting OUR beds, would we M . . . "
All uttered in a honeyed-cloying voice in front of non-family members.
And so it went, M gradually turning into one of the surliest, most insensitive, damaged pieces-of-shite you'd never want to know. . .
now I understand why mom never remarried, and why I'm sure that M never will.
Personally, I think it's too bad that M's dad was run off and wasn't around to give a well-needed vinegar to the momster's honey.