Clarification

I would like to be very clear with every one about why I wrote about my experiences as a child and what transpired because of them. I wrote it to give one example of all the various possible ramifications of a selfish act. From my discussions with people over the years I am convinced sexual abuse and physical abuse is at a much higher level in our society and indeed all over the world than most of us seem to know or care to admit. I want people to truly understand how dangerous a man like Mark Foley really is.

I am not suffering any longer from what happened to me as a child although I think it is fair to say my life would have been very different without the bizarre events I spoke of earlier. I thank all of you for your concern and I also thank all of you for your compliments.

If not having had the experiences I have had would mean that I would be a different person I can honestly say that I would not trade a moment of my past for all the tea in China. I was very lucky. I ran into a lot of good and even some great people along the way. Others who have been abused are still suffering.

In 1979 I was among six people who lived in and ran a shelter for homeless women. Almost all of them were mentally ill and all had been abused as children or adults. A lot of men on the streets were abused as children too. There was a study done on serial killers that found that each one willing to partake in the study was abused horribly as a child and then at some point in their lives had had a serious head injury. Things happen for a reason. Violence and even terrorism does not spontaneously combust. It has roots.