NYTimes
Look not at the feeble man sitting in court, his right hand trembling, his pinstriped pants tucked into the tops of his rubber galoshes. Rather, his lawyers implored on Monday, see the boy he was, the son of a violent drunk and, later, of stepfathers who shipped him away. See the war hero, the international attaché, the late-in-life Broadway producer who probably saw something familiar as he brought the tale of a howling, ruined family to the stage.[...]
Look not at the feeble man sitting in court, his right hand trembling, his pinstriped pants tucked into the tops of his rubber galoshes. Rather, his lawyers implored on Monday, see the boy he was, the son of a violent drunk and, later, of stepfathers who shipped him away. See the war hero, the international attaché, the late-in-life Broadway producer who probably saw something familiar as he brought the tale of a howling, ruined family to the stage.[...]
This is really a beautiful and well written article.
ReplyDeleteMy mother is a strikingly beautiful and brilliant woman who is trapped in an emotional prison by her paranoid and anxiety ridden mind.
My mother sincerely loves her children and grandchildren so deeply that she has sought a court order to keep her loved ones away from her out of her own fear of what she might do to those she loves the most.
My mother sincerely loved her father whom she overdosed on medication after he suffered a devastating stroke because she could not bear to see him suffering.
My mother sincerely loved her mother whom she overdosed on tranquilizers because she could not bear to watch her age and become disabled.
Mental illness is very complex and devastating on a family. Unless a person is unfortunate enough to have lived through it in his/her own relatives, the sad story of Mrs. Astor and her son is incomprehensible.