There are those who, by little choice of their own, find themselves introduced to the darker side of human existence at an early age. We all know about the ‘evils’ of the world but what happens when evil lives across the hallway in the master bedroom and one is forced to make a life with it? Such overwhelming trauma on a young psyche that isn’t even fully formed, a brainpan that is literally still developing and on an individual who has barely mastered his or her ABC’s eventually evolves into much deeper issues in the long run.  That’s a given.

But because that psyche is still developing, there’s still time to learn more about the world- life is not set. It is only in the process of setting. The darkness that the child is experiencing becomes an ingredient in their foundation- but not the foundation itself. This development is why we call children ‘resilient’. Because despite what they go through, they remain supple and wholesome, if not a little weary in the eye. Even the physical aspect mirrors this. As compared to a full grown adult, a child that sustains a spinal cord injury is more likely to completely heal because the nerves in the spinal cord are still forming- and will be to approximately 16 years of age. There may be a hitch in their gait but it doesn’t slow them down.

But a young child who experiences evil in his fellow humans at a young age has something else that happens inside that can never be repaired.

They age. Unnaturally. They lose time.

The deeper the sorrow, the more they age. A child who is 3 or 4 may actually be 6 or 7. A seven year old can be 15. A fifteen year old, twenty five. Years of wonderment are destroyed with every foul act they are forced into, come upon, see, hear or get trapped in. Years that they can never get back. Stuck in a 5 year old body that houses a 10 year old mind, they are pushed into maturity faster than they can handle. And more often than not, the duality is too much; and eventually, rage pushes back.

“My sweet daughter suddenly turned into a raging lunatic overnight!”

No she didn’t. Nothing happens overnight. Nothing.

“He always just loved everyone- I don’t know why he did what he did. He was such a good kid. I never had to worry about him.”

No, he did enough worrying for the both of you- that’s why.

Worn down by the age of 10, some are pretty turned off by what life has to offer by the time they hit their 20’s. What a shame, considering the average male lives to be 70 and the average female lives to be 80. Others act recklessly as though they have nothing really to lose. Why not? There’s nothing they haven’t already been through!

These growing children are more willing to take both the challenges and the risks in life nobody else wants. They also have a unique advantage over their ‘well-bred’ competitors: righteous anger.

Anger is a powerful emotion. It’s like rocket fuel. But just like Star Wars, it can take an individual straight over to the dark side used incorrectly. And there, that child finds him or herself face to face with the evil that brought them there to begin with. Will the child return from whence he came? It’s a crapshoot. A difficult choice. As the saying goes: Come to the dark side. We have cookies.

Whether its nature or nurture or luck of the draw, a few will choose to use their power for good. No matter how boldly they go forth or the number of dragons they slay or the kittens they pluck from lofty tree branches, they are always looking behind them. Searching. Searching the sky, ancient texts, the internet and even the faces of those around them; looking for that little child. The one that existed a split second before they recognized the face of evil and knew it- the one right before the world they knew of supernova’d out of existence.