Snug Like Alcoholics in a Brewery
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Physical violence against little children is easy. A small skull crushes like a cardboard box. Psychological violence, the perversion of small minds, is easier still and much safer for the criminal. The damage is not seen until years later, when the victim cannot remember what hit him, even if he knew in the first place. A perverted mind, either in a child or an adult, does not mean a peculiar mind. Perverted means what most of us become. Perverted means lacking in trust, empathy and affection. We daily suffer and inflict common-place inhumanities, most importantly upon our children. For the first time in history, we have certain knowledge of the means whereby the capacity for trust, empathy and affection can be shattered in the first three years of life. This knowledge is timely because the means to destroy each other is at hand as never before. Quite apart from the question of whether or not trust, empathy and affection are better than mistrust, indifference and hate, the world will not survive many more generations of suspicious, hardened, affectionless individuals. If we are not to die, we are to change. Our survival depends upon the care of our children. They will drop the bombs, release the germs, use the poisons or not. Nothing can be more urgent. It cannot be postponed. Even if this means abandoning most of the institutions, habits and beliefs we now cherish, snug like alcoholics in a brewery. Michael Mason, Founding Member of the CSPCC April 1975 |
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