Well it has been nearly a year since I shared my thoughts on this platform, The Critical Thinker. Within that time life got in the way serving as a great distraction for both my writing in this blog and recording my podcast. My only constant throughout was my radio show broadcast live each Saturday from 6-9 a.m. ET on gobrave.org and 88.7 FM. Well, while life is still in the way, so to speak, I am back in my groove of writing in The Critical Thinker and recording on The Marc Medley Show.
My reintroduction to writing in The Critical Thinker was brought about as a result of my watching a movie based on the life of a recent guest I interviewed on The Reading Circle with Marc Medley. My guest was Steve Pemberton and we discussed his recently released book The Lighthouse Effect: How Ordinary People Can Have an Extraordinary Impact in the World. During our time on air together we also discussed his previously released book A Chance In The World, a book based on Mr. Pemberton's life that birthed a movie by the same name. I took the opportunity to watch A Chance In The World last night and afterwards was prompted to pen this post.
As I watched A Chance In The World, my mind immediately went back to a film I watched with my children when they were small It Takes Two, a 1995 American romantic comedy film starring Kirstie Alley, Steve Guttenberg, and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. In It Takes Two, Amanda Lemmon is a nine-year-old orphan who is being sought after by the Butkises, a family known to "collect" kids. My mind went back to It Takes Two when watching A Chance In The World because of the uncanny similarities between the the Butkises and the Robinsons the foster family portrayed in A Chance In The World. The Robinsons like the Butkises "collected" foster children. Now, it is bad enough that the word "collected" is used in terms of children, however, it gets worse as the children were not only collected, they were abused and traumatized on a daily basis.
Steve Pemberton in his transparency about his childhood experiences as a foster child blows the lid off of the horrific circumstances that are unbeknownst to the general public because the exploitation and abuse is often hidden by foster parents who are great actors. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson were great actors in front of the public while mentally and physically abusing their foster children behind closed doors. In the movie, Steve was subjected to ridicule and physical harm and was threatened with even more if he were to tell anyone the truth. I could not imagine what must have been going through Steve's mind and nervous system as he was being taunted and teased by people who he thought were supposed to love him. All he ever wanted was a family to love him and to know who his biological parents were. I won't tell you anymore as I highly recommend that you watch the film.
I have had very few traumas in my life, however, having experienced some recent trauma, It it beyond my comprehension of what the mind of someone who has been repeatedly traumatized must be like. There are children who are traumatized on a daily basis before they come to school and when they return home from school, and then educators wonder why they behave the way that they do in school. I highly recommend A Chance In The World for teachers and guidance counselors and even students for that matter. Abuse of any form must not be tolerated and no one should be subjected to it. If you suspect child abuse is occurring in the life of any child that you serve or know, please do not hesitate to report what you believe to the proper authorities. While Mr. Pemberton's experiences ultimately made him stronger and built resilience, no child or adult for that matter ought to suffer from any type of abuse. If you have been traumatized, abused or struggling mentally, do not hesitate to seek professional help.
I invite you to visit my website marcamedley.com and to listen to me live each Saturday from 6-9 a.m. ET on gobrave.org and 88.7 FM radio in the northern New Jersey/New York areas. The Marc Medley Show is heard on all of the major podcast distribution platforms.
.jpg)
