Reply #27: It's a horrible, horrible feeling to wish someone dead.

[hunter]

It's almost as bad to feel some sort of happy relief when they die.

In my experiences the thing I had great trouble with was that the victims had mixed feelings about the parents and guardians who should have been protecting them -- in my mind it was like "My God! How can you still love them in any possible way???" and that would get in the way of any support I could offer.

It's hard to be strong, and most importantly, gentle and available and practical when such feelings of anger and hatred are seething within you.

And the anger is still down there seething within me, it doesn't go away, and I have to take a deep breath... And I look here, at the practical political aspects of this: We need places like Planned Parenthood to bring light to these very dark situations. We can't hide behind some false veneer of propriety or righteousness and distance ourselves from the horror, nor can we reflect it back on the victim. The best we can do is to absorb the shock, hang on tight, and do whatever we can to hold what is good together while the storms pass.