Hi Defiant
Yes. I tolerated a lot of abuse in the years between 18 and 23. I was always simmering mad. I question how much I helped my son, if at all.
The hard, hard thing about all of this, is we love them so much. The stakes are so high. Their lives and our own are at stake.
While protecting ourselves is important (because it is at the same time taking a stand for them--that they be men of integrity, good men) there is the intense need to protect them--as you said "guide and protect." Which is as if biological in its drive in us. Which causes us to submit to so much which is messy. To which you refer.
I care about you and your son. I want him to be OK. And you too. There is no easy way, is there? Nothing without risks one way or another.
I guess we need to trust them, trust ourselves, the part of us that is in them. It is a question of faith, is it not?
Take care.
COPA
