The Death of my Heroin Addict Niece — an Uncle’s Perspective

[Third Hour]

For 13 years, Ximena was an incredibly bright, athletic, motivated second child and second daughter. She lived in an intact, supportive family under normal stresses and strains. The extended family was cohesive and supportive with several involved aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. The extended circle of friends was also supportive with few exceptions. The future looked bright. Her father spoke to me about getting her ready for Ivy League schools and scholarships, both athletic and academic. At 13 she was a 4.0 student, a voracious reader, and a gifted writer. Then something happened. The family does not talk about it in any detail, but there was some form of sexual abuse by someone close to her age whom she knew. She learned a brutal lesson at a vulnerable time—that her body had become an object of exploitation, even for people who should be trusted. Her chosen response was to wear baggy clothing like sweatpants and hoodies, I suppose to make herself less attractive as an object. Her unchosen response...

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[Just_A_Guy]

There’s a lot one could pick apart and/or respond to; but what struck me most was the simple and fearless honesty of the account.  Thank you.  

[Vort]

23 minutes ago, Just_A_Guy said:

There’s a lot one could pick apart and/or respond to; but what struck me most was the simple and fearless honesty of the account.  Thank you.  

Exactly my thoughts.

[NeuroTypical]

Ouch.  Wow.  It is a worthy goal to interact with all the different notions presented in this article, and figure out where you definitively stand on each one.  I figure it would be a rare thing to find two people on this forum who end up seeing eye to eye on everything.

One of our baptismal covenants is to bear one another's burdens that they might be light.  I've found that sharing harsh stuff like this will sometimes result in additional people burdened, but nothing is really lightened for the one telling the tale.  I often hold back some more horrible things I know about the evils we humans do to each other or ourselves, for that reason.  But I wonder if folks are better for society when they're sober, burdened, and sadder-but-wiser.  I don't know.  I try to err on the side of under-sharing.

Edited November 4, 2018 by NeuroTypical