Imagine for a moment what the outcome for a child of a dysfunctional family like this one would be.

“He was raised with an odd assortment of characters that seemed to have no clue about the emotional needs of a child. He was dragged like a rag doll all over the place, and subjected to conditions that had to be disturbing and alienating.  His biological grandfather came from a dysfunctional climate where he found the body of his mother after she committed suicide. The grandfather was then abandoned by his father when he was eight.

The boy’s father and step father were alcoholics.  He was abandoned by both parents, and ‘schlepped’ from country to country until settling with his grandparents with whom he’d arrived at an unspoken pact…he could live with them and they’d leave him alone so long as he kept troubles out of sight.   Eventually the grandparents entrusted the grandson’s mentorship to a man who was a pedophile, an alcoholic, and a misogynist.”

One may assume that this boy’s outcome is destined for disaster.  It is well-known that pedophiles may have 400 victims in a lifetime.  It would be safe to surmise then, that this boy was sexually abused.  Childhood sexual abuse leads to numerous adult dysfunctional behaviors especially if the  abuse is not disclosed. Adult depression, psychological disorders, and substance abuse are some of the manifestations of the unresolved damage done. 

One could assume that the outcome for the boy in this story was disastrous.  Instead, he became the most powerful man on the planet.  That’s right.  The boy in the story is President Barack Obama.  I do not know nor could I say for sure if he was ever molested as a child. Considering the nature of pedophiles, one may conclude he was and consequently suffers with a damaged soul. It follows that since the abuse to compensate, he has longed for a meaningful close relationship and continues to have deep longings to acquire the admiration of anyone and everyone for the worth he was deprived as a child, and the damage he suffered at the hands of adult abusers. 

We are all on this journey called life.  The consequences of abuse touch us all.  Hope for healing rests only in the hands of the wounded one.