TBL_The Misc Lion

LION SNACK - FOOD FOR THOUGHT

In todays Lion Snack-Food For Thought-I want to ask the question-Can pedophiles be cured? For today since this is the first LS installment Ill stick with the subject of child abuse issues since they are near and dear to my heart. The legal system that puts child predators behind bars can prevent someone from attacking a child/teen or adult but this is not a medical cure. Other pedophiles and molesters are chemically treated-but it does not cure them forever. It is a constant treatment of therapy by groups to discuss with others their problems with the issue of child abuse and the chemical portion of their treatment. When I say “their problems” it is the process of going inside the head of the offender-the molester and finding out why they have done the heinous acts of child abuse or rape and what makes them like this.

I once asked an officer who had made arrests throughout his career of sexual predators and he stated that in his minds eye-the molester was given a shot of novocaine to their mental-emotional and sexual systems regarding children and or-the vicious nature regarding the crime they were or would commit. They had no feeling for the persons well being. They had no yesterdays or tomorrows regarding the conscience of committing a brutal vicious act. They did it-when it was over-they dealt with it then and ONLY because they got caught.

Is my desire to see child abuse education taught in school systems a cure? No- but... through education-it may make a dent in the MILLIONS of cases annually (3+MILLION annually) and may open doors of caring and responsibility to the treatment of ALL people we come into contact with in our life. We can try-cant we!

In the treatment of pedophiles by therapy and chemical treatments as well as the psychological & psychiatric commitment to finding cures and dealing with such a difficult societal issue-I must salute the Doctors and healers of our day and age.

Truthfully when I first started to look into the subject of the destruction of families through child abuse-I was rather closed minded in my observations. Then I was reminded of brain surgeries. WHY? In the beginning-how many people died from brain surgery-ALL of them-but it didnt stop us from trying to perform successful surgeries or find possible cures for disease and operate on tumors. Today-as a result of decades of research-we can do successful brain surgeries and have come a long way in our treatments of brain disease and disorders of the mind. Today-people live because of the pioneering efforts of those early days.

The book “Demon In The Freezer” by Richard Preston and author of The Hot Zone”which Stephen King calls “one of the most horrifying things I’ve read in my whole life” deals with the subject of biowarfare. The book “Demon In The Freezer” is an amazing odyssey of how the WORLD came together-to ERADICATE SMALLPOX in 1979--perhaps-the DEADLIEST virus on the planet-yet-the terrorist element from any area of the planet may go to great lengths to mutate the disease-or put it on warheads-for the purpose of using the virus as an agent of destruction - with CATASTROPHIC results.

(Not just smallpox-the worst of them all) but experiments on other types of disease and virus as well) We went even farther and successfully injected animals with smallpox-that never had the disease before or ever-just to see if it was possible. Guess what? The animals-(monkeys) got the disease and had to be destroyed. Why-because other governements were experimenting on the same thing. Disease as a bio-weapon-you bet!

For the world efforts to eradicate smallpox-no awards or nobel prizes were given-just cold freezers to store the virus-until the next time-when it can be used as a weapon. I was absolutely incredulous when I read this.
We cure-and then we are to step BACKWARDS on our journey? We cant do this! In our country we cannot go backward-ever-it is an example-of how we must go forward-we must heal-even when we don’t want to.

Polly Klass-Adam Walsh-Jon Benet Ramsey-Dru Shodin-Carla Brucie-Amber Hagerman-Elizabeth Smart are children with the exception of Elizabeth Smart who died at the hands of child sexual predators and murder.

Elizabeth Smart is only in the one percent range of children that live-most are dead within the first three hours of kidnapping. What has happened in the aftermath-The Polly Klass.Foundation-started by father Marc Klass-The Amber Alert-because of Amber Hagermans murder-(with Elizabeth Smart and the Hagerman families present at the white House signing by President George Bush-April 1993)

John Walsh-Americas Most Wanted-whose son Adam was kidnapped and murdered-Jon Benet Ramsey-Dru Shodin and Carla Brucie-Headlines of children taken and murdered-and like Neil Diamond's precious song "Done Too Soon" their lives and memory are etched upon my heart and I will not forget them-ever.

Remember Mary Vincent at age 15 whose arms were both hacked off with an axe by a vicious sexual predator in 1978-(lawrence singleton-now deceased) lived through the hell of her life in another state with a new identity-until they let her violator out again 14 years later. Upon his release he murdered Roxanne Hayes-1997. Mary Vincent lived to testify against Singleton when he was let out a second time and murdered Ms Hayes. (She-Mary Vincent found out about Singleton by accident-she wasnt even contacted about the murder he committed upon his release.) That takes COURAGE to stand in the face of your attacker under the heinous circumstances of her attack.

Today with the prosthetic devices that are now her hands she has created a life-the kind that takes a person with a TITAN soul to make. Her life is meaningful-and because she has done so- we- are the witnesses to the heartbreak and triumph of these kinds of situations-even when we HATE the circumstances. I think I made my point crystal clear.

Yes-we must get at the root of psychological and psychiatric disorders for sexual abuse in any form. The classrooms will help-our doctors and scientists and therapists must help. A lot needs to be done. I'll pose a few other hypothetical situations for you to think about-

Youve been told a family member has been released from jail-he/she-is a convicted pedophile. Would you want them near you-or in your home? Or-Youre going to a church function or a societal function and youve just been informed a convicted sexual molester will be present. Or-you go to your mailbox-and there is the notification that your next door neighbor-is a convicted child sexual predator. Or-you are a priest/pastor and a member of your community is found to have a prior arrest for sexual abuse.

In the context of the questions posed-would you trust your children in the presence of these people with these backgrounds? I believe for the most part we would say No and be emphatic about it. Yet-the search for cures medically-therapeutically and the restraining efforts of the legal system must be used while in-between the lines-we continue on as we must-but with a clearer idea of what is at stake here.

We should never stop trying for cures-we should utilize our legal systems and for those of us caught in the maelstrom of life-like the above listed names-or the Millions that become abuse statistics annually-or people like me-who choose to write about a difficult subject that has been at the core of my family story and existence-we have a right to look for answers-a time to be angry about the injustices and the right to deal with the problems the way we see fit. For some of us it IS personal. For some of us-the scars last a lifetime.
As I said before-I really struggled with writing this because there is that side of us that says-there is no cure-it cant be done-I had to push a lot of pain aside to get to the core of this issue. It may not appeal to everyone else-and this is about as “liberal” as I can get with such a difficult subject-but I chose to deal with it this way and- IT WORKS FOR ME.

Your comments are welcome-I enjoy many sides of a discussion and commentary. Make them-and I will list some of your statements and e-mails. Thanks-

"TBL"

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