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To make them seem less guilty of being a refuge for individuals who commit heinous crimes?
I realize that "heinous crimes" is usually used to describe scenes of cannibalism, 40 stabs with a knife, etc . . .
But what I feel is lacking in the NTM response, is the situational understanding--consider how this changes things:
1). The children who were abused in boarding schools were prisoners. They were not allowed to leave. The land off base was portrayed and sometimes was, a very dangerous place. Some children did not know the local language. We did not have money of our own. Altogether our girl's dorm had probably 15.00 max at any time, put all together. The dorm parents or office held any real money sent up from parents.
2). The abusers were always there with you. We ate breakfast together, walked back to the dorm together to brush our teeth. We then went to school, where these same abusers also taught . . .then ate lunch with them, then the same for the rest of the day and all weekend.
3). The smallest gesture or click of the tongue could be used to reprimand--we were hyper-aware of the control. All day long. It does not take much to terrorize. . .when in this setting.
4). There were no guidance counselors. No nurse that was not married to a member of the community. No local pastor. There was enough movement with furloughs, that someone you might have trusted, would probably be gone when you really needed them, or were finally getting up the nerve to talk.
5). Rebellion was the ultimate sin. No, not just the sin that we all talk about in our personal lives. . .this was the start of confrontations that induced the leaders to show tears in their eyes, strumming the Bible, praying earnestly, very solemnly, about the wages of sin is death, be sure your sin will find you out, Jesus wants you as His child, without reproach.
6). We would do anything to avoid these confrontations. They were physically painful --stabbing. (Because feelings were not validated or valued, any "feelings" turned into physical pain.) These talks were meant to induce big, gulping tears of confession and brokenness. It usually worked.
7). Sex was the forbidden topic. There were no words that were ok to say, that described body parts, or body sensations. Anything that came close to being sexual was very very threatening. As our purity was the litmus test of spirituality, there was no middle ground.
8). If boarding school seemed unbearable . . .there were no options that had not already been declared to be "out of God's will."
Does this change the perspective?
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