Sadly, things like this happen to victims of all kinds of abuse. When I was a kid, my father would sometimes tell me about things that his father did to him. Eventually I recognized that he had suffered horrible physical and verbal abuse. His father, in turn, had lived a life filled with trauma. Instead of dealing with it, he unloaded all his trauma onto his kids who then unloaded their inherited trauma onto their kids, including me.

When I began to recognize this dynamic, It was like I could see the little boy, within my dad, who just wanted to be loved but instead was systematically destroyed; through no fault of his own. His capacity for joy and love were greatly compressed, and the void filled with fear and anger. I saw that I was just like him and I was horrified at that discovery.

Sometimes people try to run away from the pain and fear. I think that’s why they try to pretend they’re above it. Because it feels easier to malign people who share your experience, in order to try and pretend it wasn’t real, than it is to face the pain and fear.

But until you face it, you will never escape it. It will always be there wreaking havoc on your life and lives of those around you.