All in the Family

Scott Hardie | November 27, 2009
Kelly found a creepy news story: An adoptee's search into his family history revealed that his father was Charles Manson, and that he had been the product of a rape. (link) Against the warnings of his adoptive parents, he wrote to Manson, and received warped, hateful writings in return. Now the man is struggling with what this means about himself; I'm sure he expected to have his sense of identity change when he found his parents, but not like this.

If you were in this man's shoes, and you had the ability to forget this information and go on wondering forever who your father was, would you do so? Or would you keep it and struggle to make some kind of peace with it?

Samir Mehta | November 27, 2009
[hidden by request]

Amy Austin | December 2, 2009
I've delayed responding to some of the more serious discussions and posts around here, just because I really have quite enough on my mind as it is. ;-) But without struggling too hard to find the exact right words to express pretty much the same sentiment, I have to agree with Samir. My mom and dad are definitely no Charles Manson or Eileen Wuornos... but there are still a few issues of serious enough concern to me that I do live with a certain amount of fear in my life over hereditary predispositions -- enough that (though it *does* help to hear it) no amount of external validation or reassurances from others will ever completely dispel it, I am sure. I am the only one who can conquer that fear. But there really is so much more to an individual than just genetic coding, and I find that there are small reminders and personal victories every day (or so... ;-D) to encourage me to keep believing that I am my own person and that free will can be a very powerful thing, for better or worse. One has only to look no further than at a pair of siblings -- twins, even -- with such remarkably disparate personalities from their parents and/or each other to see the truth in this and the possibilities for personal growth that exist and can come from realizing that you are not just your mother's daughter or your father's son -- and it sounds like this poor guy has done a lot to that end already. Better still if you didn't even have to know the worst of it for half your life -- I think that much should be somewhat uplifting in and of itself!