Thank you for copying this post from RNS, Bemused, written by Learning to Be a Survivor.
(
http://boz.religionnews.com/2014/07/11/ ... sion-help/)
Perhaps this articulate, heartrending post also helps shed some light on the issue Paul Syson brought up recently, which is the fact that most of the writing here on Fanda Eagles is done by just a few people, and almost all of the 400 Forum members have gone silent.
Many of these 400 are NTM MKs, and many have in the past written some very passionate posts about their memories, their abuse, and their frustration.
I suspect that a lot of the silent ones can relate to the things written by Learning to Be a Survivor. It is so painful to remember, and when the retelling doesn't seem to have an impact on those with the power to do something about it, those old familiar feelings of helplessness and hopelessness easily take hold once again.
Many MK abuse survivors are adults in their 30s and 40s who are very busy just trying to hold their current lives together. Many have small children, are trying to keep the bills paid, and hoping not to neglect their loved ones in the way they themselves were neglected. Others go through cycles of despair, addiction, relationship struggles, and physical or emotional health concerns. It is all some MKs can do just to hold their fragile psyches together, let alone stay connected with other MKs who are in pain, and keep thinking, writing and crying over heartbreaking memories that feel like nightmares from a fuzzy past.
The silence does not surprise me. I get it.
But silence does not mean they aren't out there. Some are still reading. Some are not.
The fact remains that there are thousands of adults whose parents were members of New Tribes Mission, who as children and adolescents experienced varying levels of trauma, abuse, abandonment and neglect.
I know they are there.
And so does NTM.