Ed, I think you’ll understand if I say, there’s just no way to talk about this pattern in human behavior without seeming to hurt someone or seeming to exclude them. We are all overlapping and all responsible in our ways. I don’t think of you as in any category, I think of you as Ed. That’s why I worry about saying almost anything. 
Thanks for being you.
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Yes, this was dynamic for me too. Actually my mother also resorted to violence and I was the between one, trying to negotiate peace between them and to protect myself from both of them. Impossible!
There is so much to respond to in your comment here. I can’t physically do that now, but want you to know how valuable I find all you’ve said and posted.
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Thanks, John, for this, too!
In my family I was the story-holder/scribe…my parents are gone, but their stories not only are part of me, I’ve written a lot of them down. At this point, I’m the oldest one in our family…
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Thank you, Ariadne, and I hope you are feeling better soon.
I imagine we have a meta-pattern, a free floating motif, that writers and readers of all kinds, re-embody. And that trauma of the wounded child is a hugely compelling archetype, and like all archetypal patterns, must find a community of saints, to express and heal with. That we take on this role in family and other organizations is, perhaps, necessary for group coherence . Lovers of literature and history, as well as the street wise micro-narrative, helps us to self-correct, reshape our shared realities.
Thanks again for your glorious support!
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