Overheard in a conversation:

“Yeah, I feel bad for him.  I went through the same thing, basically, only probably a lot worse” said one.

“What do you mean?” the other asked.

“I was abused, yelled at, ridiculed, beaten at times by my mother’s boyfriend when I was young.  It was terrible man” the one continued.

The other looked on with serious eyes.  “What happened?”

“My mom had gotten a divorce- never was sure why- and my dad just kind of faded off somewhere.  My mom got this boyfriend who none of us liked and she let him, she really begged him to move in with us” the one explained.

“Why’d she do that?”

“Security I guess, maybe something else but probably that.  She felt that she needed the extra money I guess but I have three brothers and a sister- we all could have gotten jobs close to around that time to help out.  Funny thing is that she got some extra money from him, when he felt like putting it into the family, but in the end it was just all about him having control over her- and all of us too” said the one.

“So he abused you and your brothers and sister?” probed the other.

“As far as I know, yes.  But most of us never mention it and my mom is in a home now and pretends like it never happened.  My oldest brother Bob talked about it though.  He’s the one who finally stepped in and put an end to it.”

“How’d he do that?”

The one, his voice faltering a bit, went on: “When he got old enough and big enough he challenged the jerk and wound up beating him up several times.  He finally had enough especially since it was starting to be me, the smallest and the youngest, who was getting abused most.  Bob always told me that he had to step in to stop what was happening, that’s maybe why he had been born into our family, maybe why he existed.  He was always coming up with thoughts like that.”

The other wanted to know the rest of the history.  “So what wound up happening?”

“Well,” said the one in a voice now stronger, “the jerk got really mad but couldn’t do anything about it with Bob there so he just decided to leave one day.  He was mad at Bob, said he hated him and would deal with him for good one day; said he hated all of us; called my mom a bunch of names and said he hated her and was leaving.  She cried for weeks and blamed Bob for getting in the way.  Bob tried to defend his actions but she wouldn’t listen and told him to move out.  So he did and he never came back.  He tried to make up with my mom but she would never accept him or his explanations.  He never apologized and he shouldn’t have had to in my opinion- and in his.”

“And the jerk?”

“Ran into Bob outside a bar one night and attacked him with a knife.  Cut him bad twice before Bob got the knife away and wound up killing him.  At least he didn’t go to jail- it wasn’t his fault really, not any of it.  He was just doing what he had learned was right- he was protecting us and, he thought, helping my mom to see what this jerk really was all about” explained the one.

“And Bob?”

“Well, that’s the worst part.  He wound up getting married and having a family.  His wife came to me one day and confessed Bob was abusing his kids the same way the jerk had done.  Can you believe it?!? I confronted Bob and he told me to butt out.  I reminded him that he had once felt differenlty, felt it was up to him to get in the way, to protect our family from harm but that now he was guilty of doing the same things that the jerk had done.  I couldn’t believe it was happening, that I was having to talk to him about it.”

“Wow” sighed the other.  “What did he say?”

“Man,” whispered the one, his voice now cracking, “he said that that was then and this is now.  That he is the one in charge and when his kids don’t listen or misbehave or just do something to bug him that he will deal with it in his own way and doesn’t need anyone getting in the way.  I tried again to make him realize what a hypocrite he was being; I tried to reach him and help, if not him then his wife and family.”

“And?”

“He hit me and shoved me out the door.  Told me to mind my own business and let him mind his own, that he knew better than me what was best for his own family regardless of what he had ever done or said before.  I left and wondered if, one day, one of his own sons would step up and stop him.”  The one put his head into his hands as if to cry.

“Wow” repeated the other.  “Wow.  So sad, so wrong.  Thank God that could never happen here in our country.”