Now that I am a father, my perspective on many things have changed & my sensitivity to the experiences of children has heightened.
I've always been inspired by the innocence and purity of vision that little children possess. They see everything in the world with fresh eyes, and they are trusting little blank slates who depend on the love & guidance of adults to grow.
Seeing my son joyfully experiencing life, full of curiosity & enthusiasm, has brought me tremendous happiness that is hard to describe. However, it has also brought me profound sadness... as I think of the terrible circumstances that so many unfortunate babies & children are exposed to. I always thought that child abuse in any form, physical or mental, is the most most heinous offense a human being can commit. Now that I have a child of my own, seeing reports or stories of little kids being abused by adults ignites a white-hot fire of rage in my heart. What kind of fucking damaged person could possibly look at the face of an innocent child and want to hurt it in any way? It's so sickening that it makes me despair at the state of the entire human race.
So, when I read a lengthy web comic about the now-closed Elan School, I was both engaged by the insane story & utterly horrified by the idea that institutions like that have existed (& sadly still exist).
I would recommend reading through the comic, but it is definitely not for the faint of heart. It's better to directly experience the powerful graphic journey, rather than try to describe it.
What really disturbed me is the idea that parents would allow their kid to be basically kidnapped and isolated in some reform school, without direct observation of their situation. My son is a toddler now & crazy as hell. He is hyperactive, defiant, and rough bordering on violent. However, he is also extremely smart, sweet & loving, and just a very friendly little guy. I'm hoping he grows out of some of the negative "terrible two's" qualities and we can guide him to be a well-adjusted person. Even if he had behavioral issues when he gets older, I cannot for the life of me imagine just handing him off to some assholes running some disciplinary school to "set him straight".
The most messed up part is that some of these kids were not even really that bad, they were sometimes just rebellious, smoked some pot, or some dumb shit like that. Young people have been separated from their families for YEARS, while these institutions milked the parents for money and straight up tortured kids whose minds have not yet fully developed & cannot truly comprehend the hell they've been placed in.
These kind of abusive "correctional" methods are still going on with places like the "pray away the gay" camps, or conversion therapy for kids exploring their sexual identity in ways that their families don't approve of.
Even conventional day cares & schools can breed abusive environments that cause unnecessary trauma, but institutions like Elan School appear to be systematic in the abuse & torture of society's most vulnerable members.
It's overwhelming to think of all the suffering going on in the world, especially to little kids who don't deserve the cruelty that so many of them have to endure. I hope that by bringing some light to it, the world can reduce these dark aspects of human nature that propagate through the generations.
