” Reality Lite “
They called him “the Block Monster”, a killer who, at the age of twelve, still curled in bed with his mother and sucked his thumb unable to process his horror. Why should we save him? Judges asked me and their question reverberated in the packed pews. It was a fair question, made me think about the people whose lives I try to save and those who’ve saved mine.
Why save the block monster? Because he is broken, because killing him means nothing, accomplishes nothing except more broken people, because understanding is healing. Because I, too, want to feel something, anything but numb.
His life is raw and visceral, I begin. The judges roll their eyes. He lived in bitter loneliness. They don’t want to hear his abuse. Give us “reality lite”, soft truth, the kind that has a happy ending despite the dark shadows. Sell us that? Maybe then we’ll listen.
I can’t. This is his story, history, his truth.
How dare you deny him that.