Chapter one
To be or not to be ... a victim
Even flowers have to grow through dirt.

— Nancy, a listener

Unfortunately, a lot of people are made to suffer as children: beatings, rapes, torture, abandonment, neglect, parental divorce and subsequent remarriage with new or stepchildren to compete with, alcoholic or drug-addicted parent(s), erratic and even dangerous consequences of parental mental illness, browbeatings, parental insensitivity, psychological and emotional assaults, parental affairs, constant family turmoil, molestations, familial violence, single parent by choice or irresponsibility, and so forth. They are definitely victims of self-centered, evil, ignorant, and/or weak adults; and, for me, weakness or ignorance do not excuse the resultant harm.

In the beginning ...
More and more, the calls to my radio program are coming from children, children being victimized by their parents. I try, in the short time available to me in a live radio phone conversation, to do something to align that hurting child with something positive to hold onto. Samantha, for example, is a nine-year-old child who called wanting to know how to deal with a mother who won't take care of her and a father who is in and out of jail.

Dr. Laura: Where are you living?

Samantha: I'm living with my grandma.

Dr. Laura: Your grandma? Is your grandpa there, too?

Samantha: Uh-huh.

Dr. Laura: Are you a religious girl?

Samantha: Yes.

Dr. Laura: This is what I suggest you do to deal with it. I suggest that every now and then you pray to God, and say, “God, thank you, thank you, thank you for giving me a grandma and grandpa to take care of me.”

Samantha: Okay.

Dr. Laura: Do you understand why I said that?

Samantha: Sort of.

Dr. Laura: In our lives, we are going to have many disappointments. That goes for everybody, Samantha. Everybody. Some disappointments are bigger than others. Having two parents you can't count on is a huge disappointment. Huge. Huge. I understand you being hurt and disappointed and upset and angry and all kinds of stuff. Now, there are two kinds of people in this world. There are the people who have those big disappointments and they spend their lives being sad. And then there are the other people, who go, “It is sad that I have these disappointments, but I am sooo lucky because I have ...” Samantha, which do you think are the happier people?

Samantha: The people who are sad — but still happy.

Dr. Laura: Yup. That's going to be you, Samantha. That's how you are going to deal with it. You are going to be sad that you can't count on your mommy and daddy, but you are going to be happy because there are people you can count on. And you are going to make a happy life.

Samantha: Okay. Bye. Thank you.

Getting calls like Samantha's, and there are too many, is the worst and best of all worlds. I ache that these children are hurting. I rejoice that they call me and that I can give them a perspective that will hopefully detour them from a life of a victimhood mentality.

could she just not be so dag-nabbed self-righteous, judgemental, and rude??