Corroborating what I've been saying about how rampant child abuse is around the world: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6539027.stm India is in no way unique, and I'd bet that the numbers are higher than the researchers are finding, since many children won't admit to themselves that it's happening. The statistic I've come across is that one-third of abused children completely shut it out of consciousness. In other words, if you ask them, they'll say, and believe, that the abuse never happened. They bury it, but it's always alive as long as they're alive, tormenting them. So the actual reality is probably much worse. Even here our civilized selves think it's necessary to hit children, a parent's obligation as well as right. Big deal, right? Except that it's the cause of all evil, all misery, all war, all greed, all hatred, all of what makes humans the way they are. How instinctive is parenting if abuse is built into the system? Passive abuse is one notch less bad than active abuse. Parenting is learned behavior and it desperately needs to be taught by professionals. It's a no brainer that in war areas it's much worse. I was in the supermarket recently and they were playing Cher's song, lyrics below. I kind of heard it for the first time in the sense that I heard in it a summary of humankind, the lack of connection in childhood that translates into lifetime's worth of longing, otherwise known as love, and its corollary, the collective rejecting and taunting of those less fortunate by society at large. We talk a good line about altruism and a thousand points of light and all the rest of it, but the reality is we bow down to money and trample on everybody else: Baby don't go Pretty baby, please don't go I never had a mother I hardly knew my dad I been in town for 18 years And you're the only boy I've had I can't stay, maybe I'll be back someday Baby don't go Pretty baby, please don't go I love you so Pretty baby, please don't go I never had no money I bought at the second-hand store The way this old town laughs at me I just can't take it no more I can't stay, I'm gonna be a lady someday Baby don't go Pretty baby, please don't go I love you so Pretty baby, please don't go When I get to the city My tears will all be dried My eyes will look so pretty No one's gonna know I cried Yes, I'm goin' away, maybe I'll be back someday Baby don't go Baby, I'll be back someday Baby don't go Baby, I'll be back someday ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html