Sunday, December 16, 2012

The Core Problem

Here is a heart-wrenching account by a woman with a very smart, mentally ill 13 year old:

I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother

Liza Long
Three days before 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother, then opened fire on a classroom full of Connecticut kindergartners, my 13-year-old son Michael (name changed) missed his bus because he was wearing the wrong color pants.
"I can wear these pants," he said, his tone increasingly belligerent, the black-hole pupils of his eyes swallowing the blue irises.
"They are navy blue," I told him. "Your school's dress code says black or khaki pants only."
"They told me I could wear these," he insisted. "You're a stupid bitch. I can wear whatever pants I want to. This is America. I have rights!"
"You can't wear whatever pants you want to," I said, my tone affable, reasonable. "And you definitely cannot call me a stupid bitch. You're grounded from electronics for the rest of the day. Now get in the car, and I will take you to school."
I live with a son who is mentally ill. I love my son. But he terrifies me.
Read it in full.  Now.

1 comment:

  1. My daughter was diagnosed as autistic when she was about 4 years old. I no longer thing that. I think she is bi-polar with OCD, oppositional-defiant disordr, and explosive rage disorder (I would have scoffed at anybody who suggested their existence twenty five years ago).
    She wants to inherit my guns. I have taken her to our club range to shoot (and will again) and she has been responsible safe, but I do not believe she should have free access to guns so I will dispose of them another way.
    I know exactly how Liza feels. I love my daughter but there are times when she frightens me.

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