And the threat of “I’m going to punish you for telling” paralyzes you because you cannot imagine what could be worse than what happened in the first place.
Too true. There is no point, either as a child or adult, for abusers to be punished if they are not going to be prevented from contact with those they have victimized.
God, Del. That's awful. What makes some people such monsters? Are they born or made? I lean a little towards the latter but I'm sure it's a combination of a lot of things. My brother punished me a couple of times, too, when I threatened to tell, but nothing like what your (boy) cousin did.
I don't know,
barb. I would have thought a bad homelife, you know, the abused becoming the abusers, but from all I can tell, their homelife was just fine. Currently, they are good children to their aged parents, come over and help when they can, run errands, take them to doctor's visits....[shrugs]. It may be all a facade, but how can anyone who isn't on the inside tell?
I can only pray for karma, though your faith can be shaken by the slow response of the gods. Right now, both these abusive cousins are what we would call successful, happy pillars of the community. Both are married to loving caring spouses, are doing well financially, have children who show every sign of being extremely intelligent and doing their parents proud...my sister is divorced, living paycheck to paycheck, has 'let herself' go, is in remission for cancer, recently diagnosed with diabetes and while I maintain my health and a not much better financial situation, there doesn't look like there will ever be any loving spouse in my future.
Life really sucks sometimes, but things could be worse, much worse.