I've noticed that everyone who works in any capacity in healthcare, police or fire, or the social services -- even working on the periphery as I do -- racks up stories for the "What's the worst thing you've ever seen?" question at dinner parties very quickly. The question is, do you ever actually talk about them? Do people really want to know? Does talking about it vent anything, or does it just make you relive the hurt?
As for me, I can tell you what the worst thing I've had to deal with is. There are two of equal stature, the first being a teenager with porn star looks who has the brain of a five-year-old, and who always has and always will consistently forget to wipe his own ass. This kid has the kind of looks that take you very far in life, but he'll die alone because his mother thought it more important to chugalug the booze when she was carrying him. Second in the hit parade is a 12-year-old who was kept in a closet for most of his life and had to be taught how to use a spoon when social services finally got hold of him. When he was discovered, he weighed about 35 pounds and wore a size 3 toddler's clothing.
And as for the Sturdy Nurse? A 6-year-old boy blown away by a shotgun blast to the chest by a drug dealer when the kid knocked on the wrong door on Halloween. A child raped by a dog. A child psychopath. A family in which the parents were deliberately attempting to starve their several children to death. A woman who had miscarried and was overjoyed, and wanted proof it was dead, necessitating digging around in a bowl of blood looking for the fetus.
The need to develop coping skills to deal with these things is obvious. We all have our ways, including occasionally talking about it on here. However, does it really help to talk about it? You can't keep it bottled up, but in talking about it, is it just torture porn? I'm honestly not sure. I feel a little better if I can discuss it with someone else.
As for me, I can tell you what the worst thing I've had to deal with is. There are two of equal stature, the first being a teenager with porn star looks who has the brain of a five-year-old, and who always has and always will consistently forget to wipe his own ass. This kid has the kind of looks that take you very far in life, but he'll die alone because his mother thought it more important to chugalug the booze when she was carrying him. Second in the hit parade is a 12-year-old who was kept in a closet for most of his life and had to be taught how to use a spoon when social services finally got hold of him. When he was discovered, he weighed about 35 pounds and wore a size 3 toddler's clothing.
And as for the Sturdy Nurse? A 6-year-old boy blown away by a shotgun blast to the chest by a drug dealer when the kid knocked on the wrong door on Halloween. A child raped by a dog. A child psychopath. A family in which the parents were deliberately attempting to starve their several children to death. A woman who had miscarried and was overjoyed, and wanted proof it was dead, necessitating digging around in a bowl of blood looking for the fetus.
The need to develop coping skills to deal with these things is obvious. We all have our ways, including occasionally talking about it on here. However, does it really help to talk about it? You can't keep it bottled up, but in talking about it, is it just torture porn? I'm honestly not sure. I feel a little better if I can discuss it with someone else.
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