...And If You Had His Childhood?

‘A shattered childhood is a broken adult.’  

On November 19, 2017 the man who symbolized evil and insanity in American pop culture died. His name was Charles Manson. He gained his notoriety in the late 1960’s by forming a cult called the ‘Manson Family’ who committed several high profile murders that terrorized Los Angeles. Now, it would be easy to cast judgement upon him without a second thought. Perhaps, even briefly, relish in his death. I certainly did until a few days ago when I listened to a podcast about his childhood. It’s really no surprise that he turned out the way that he did. Here’s just a snapshot. His mother grew up in a strict religious household and in her early teens began to rebel. She became pregnant with Manson at age 15 by an older man who abruptly left her after finding out about the pregnancy. His mother showed no real maternal instincts herself. She’d often leave him for days with babysitters and relatives as she partied and slept around. She even spent four years of Manson’s early childhood in prison. Nor could it be said that he had positive role models for relatives. Once when he came home from school crying, his uncle forced him to go back to school the next day wearing a dress. That was to teach him not to cry and be a ‘sissy’. Naturally, he exhibited anger and other behavioural issues early on which made him difficult to handle. These issues then turned into criminal behaviour in his teenage years where he spent much of it in reform schools and jail. By the time he was put into prison for good he had already spent half of his life in some form of jail. Now, of course, none of this excuses his behaviour as an adult. There have been those who have suffered far worse childhoods, yet who still didn’t end up doing the horrible things that he did. But can we be shocked that he grew into an angry, self-destructive man who hated the world? So two thoughts that I’ll leave with you, dear reader. What if Manson had grown up in a somewhat decent home? And...what if you had grown up in his instead? Again, this doesn’t excuse what he did, but it does make you think, doesn’t it? 

Please remember to share this.