[firmbeliever]

Has anyone seen the movie "Mockingbird dont sing" (I think that's the name of the movie),
It is also based on a true story of child abuse!

Its worth watching...

[nikkicute]

bushg,
I totally know what you mean by" always keep your eyes open."

At the apartment where I used to live there is
Another apartment building just a few feet away.

One night I heard this women hitting her child, he
Must have been only 1 or 2 but you shouldn't be
Able to hear someone hitting a child from across
The building. He's only a little boy, just lay him
Down if you want him to go to sleep.

I got mad. Turned off my computer sceen, turned
Off all the lights in my room and let the shades
Down, I wanted to make sure no one saw me.

I yelled out the window at the top of my lungs.
"Child Abuser!!! Hey, Child Abuser!!!"
My heart of beating so fast!

Next thing you know an older women who was
Probably her mother comes to the window to see
Who was yelling and says "Who do they think they
Are? Don't they know 5-0 (code word for police I
Think) lives here? I don't think any cops lived
There.

A day or two later the mom and the son are playing outside.
Instead of playing in the front or
The back of the building she chose to play at the
Side part by the windows. There she was being all
Super nice to him. I think she was hoping that the
Person who yelled child abuser would see her
Being nice to her son and not think she was such
A bad mom.

I felt a little silly but I had to do it anyway.
Sometimes I feel like I'm being weird, I hear a
Kid crying and I go running toward the window
To see who might be messing with him.
Usually it's nothing, but I'm always going to
Be on the look out.

Now lately you hear news reports of attacks on the
Elderly. It's just terrible sometimes.

[stonewilder]

In two weeks I have read "A child called "it", "The lost boy", and just finished "A man named David" all by David Pelzer. I plan on reading at least two other books he has out and his brothers book as well. I was abused by my mother (nothing at all like David was!). He is a great inspiration and a wonderful and brave person to let “the secret“ out to help others! I would so love the chance to meet him!

[firmbeliever]

I am sorry to hear about your past stonewilder...

May you find peace.

[rankrank55]

Loved the books! We were required to read them while I was in high school... child development class! I was also required to read it again in a college class; it was a class for future teachers.

[think_pink]

Love the book its a really good book WORTH reading
Its sad... I hate what the mother did to him

[stonewilder]

I am sorry to hear about your past stonewilder...

May you find peace.

Thank you FB. I dealt with it through counseling years ago. I would be lying if I said there wasn't issues that arises in my personal life because of it but over all, I think I've learned to over come it. It's not something I tell to too many people because on one hand you don't want to hear," Well that was in your past so get over it". On the other hand you don't want their pity either because you think "It's in my past so I should just get over it! (If only it were that easy!) I’m sure as normal and put together David and his brother might seem to be today that they still have issues with the past that they will have to fight for the rest of their lives. It’s great though that they use it to help others.

[stonewilder]

Wondergirl this is in response to who ever the reviewer was on epinions.com --


My mother physically abused my brother where as she mainly only mentally abused my sister and I. I was the youngest so after my brother and sister were no longer under her roof both the mental and physical abuse was pasted to me. I don't know much about my mothers childhood because she left home at 13 and never seen her family again. According to her she was very sick when she was young and spent most of her time in a wheel chair in the fields with her dad. Supposedly her mother and her did not get alone and her other 8 (I think it was)siblings picked on her when her dad was not around. I don't understand any more than anyone else why, but it seems that for some reason it is normal that one kid in the family is marked for the abuse more than the others. Maybe it's because that child reminds them of them of the one they were abused by. I just pulled that out of my a**. I don't know why it happens but it dose.

As with teachers stepping in and helping I can assure you that didn’t happen much in those days. My sister graduated in“78”, my brother in “79”, both of them went to a school counselor about some things my mother had done. The counselor did nothing at all! In 83 or 84 I unknowingly went to this same counselor, this time she did do something….. she got my a** in hot water with my mother and betrayed not only my trust but my brothers as well by repeating something he said a few years before. I never went back to that bi*ch again and you wouldn’t believe how that one incident affected my life! So yes I do believe it is possible that teachers could have seen things, maybe even heard things but looked the other way for what ever reason.

I can relate to David’s family and how his dad felt he couldn’t do anything. I’m by no means saying his dad was right in what he did, or I should say didn’t do. My Dad was a good loving father but he too ignored the abuse to keep the peace. As stupid as it may sound by him keeping the peace with my mother he saved us from my mothers wrath. It’s easy to say he should have took us kids away but in those days men normally didn’t get the kids even if the mother sucked as a parent. My Dad worked 70+ hours just to feed us ….how was he going to pay someone to watch us too? Again I’m not saying he handled it right but it was a different day and time. You made the best with what you had and he did.

Lastly I do agree that things may have been exaggerated to sell the book and that it is possible that as most young children they can be a little confused with details. I also think that in those days if you stuck your nose in somebody’s business you better be able to prove it to be true. David probably was couched by social workers to prove the case and get him out of the home. Never the less I do believe he and his brother were abused. For them to talk about the “secret” is amazing! Only those who have lived with the secret can understand the courage it takes to talk about it as they have done.

The thing you have to remember is it was a different day and time. Things were nothing like they are today. People tried to “mind their own business“. Woman almost always got the kids and if a man worked long hours no way was a judge going to give him the kids. Our parents were raised by stricter parents. Today if you see someone take a belt to a young kid you scream abuse but in those days you might get something much worse than a belt and people just seen it as discipline.

[firmbeliever]

Thank you stoneW,
For sharing your experience with us, I am sure it isn't easy.

May you find peace...