abuse

I once edited a book of stories by William Saroyan called “I Used to Believe I Had Forever, Now I’m Not So Sure.” The title came to mind recently as I prepared my desk calendar for 2013, 

Reading The Forward’s thorough article about alleged sexual abuses against a former Judaic teacher and a principal at MTA, the Yeshiva University Boy’s High School, in the 1970s and 1980s, I felt profound sadness on many levels.

My friend’s tone was less buoyant than usual. What was wrong? Was it his marriage? Well, yes. 

There are many things in this world that are sad, and there are some things that are sadder than others.  But within that hierarchy, there is nothing sadder, in my humble opinion, than the willful abuse of children.  When those who are least able to defend themselves physically and emotionally are allegedly subjected to the most horrific kind of victimization, then we intuitively know that we have reached the bottom of the barrel of human behavior.  No child should have to suffer that indignity, and live with that shame and psychic pain.