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Byron Edgington

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Blogs by Byron Edgington

Child abuse in literature
1/25/2013 6:58:02 AM

Childhood abuse is a breech of trust. It redirected my life
Those who've read my recent book, The Sky Behind Me, a Memoir of Flying and Life, will recall that I make reference in it to my childhood abuse at the hands of a catholic clergyman. The events seared my soul, and changed my life. They removed me from the seminary at a young age after dedicating my future to the priesthood, the only life I ever contemplated. As I say in the book, I'd dreamed of ordination to the priesthood, then a posting to a foreign land where I'd minister to people, help them ease their lives, give them the light of salvation as I saw it. Instead, I was anointed an Army Warrant Officer, posted to a foreign land where I found those very same people and helped to kill them. The genesis of that life disruption was the childhood abuse when I was fourteen.
Much literature has been offered, many stories told and many lives destroyed and/or redirected by the scourge in our midst. Childhood abuse destroys trust. It causes life-long anxiety and dis-couragement, injects doubt into every human interaction that follows. It is particularly egregious when the perpetrator is a clergy member, since those people are offered as exemplars of probity, decency and integrity, adults any child can run to when trust and comfort is needed. Abuse in that situation is like escaping to a hospital where doctors cause bodily injury.
I came to believe, after much soul-searching and a life-long simmering anger that what happened to me was for the best. I would have been a lousy priest. For one thing I questioned every aspect of church dogma and have found very little that makes sense or is of value for me. For another, the way the church grovels in hypocrisy has become so ludicrous that I'm ashamed I ever participated, much less looked to join its ranks. It all stems from the event of abuse when I was fourteen. An example of today's abuse by the catholic church, no less egregious, is its treatment of LGBT people and its dismissal of their physical and spiritual needs. The only response the church offers is for them to repent. This is abuse, pure and simple.
I recently heard a radio report of new childhood abuse uncovered in the archdiocese of Los Angeles. It goes on and on. The question I had on hearing of this new revelation is this: Why are those men not in jail? Stay tuned.

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More Blogs by Byron Edgington
• Off Ramp: Weekly Short for 12/01/2014 - Saturday, December 6, 2014
• Weekly Short Story - Saturday, November 15, 2014
• The Sky Behind Me, a Memoir of Flying and Life, $1.99 for Kindle - Tuesday, November 4, 2014
• The Sky Behind Me, a Memoir of Flying and Life, 99 cents for Kindle - Sunday, November 2, 2014
• 99 cent sale starting 11/7 - Monday, October 27, 2014
• Interview: Mike Petersen, Killer Book Marketing - Tuesday, October 14, 2014
• Audio Review_The Unheralded King - Sunday, October 5, 2014
• Audio Book Reviews - Wednesday, October 1, 2014
• SkyWriting: Essays on the Art and Craft of Aviation - Tuesday, September 16, 2014
• Silent Sky: From 9/11/202 - Thursday, September 11, 2014
• Great stories and a chance to help - Monday, August 25, 2014
• The Sky Behind Me, a Memoir of Flying and Life, $4.95 for Kindle - Saturday, August 23, 2014
• SkyWriting: Essays on the Art and Craft of Aviation - Monday, August 11, 2014
• Book review: There I Wuz - Monday, August 4, 2014
• Lip smacking mystery - Tuesday, July 22, 2014
• Book review: The Silver Star - Saturday, July 5, 2014
• Book Review: Per Petterson's Out Stealing Horses - Sunday, June 29, 2014
• Free author promo - Monday, May 19, 2014
• Looking for flying tales - Wednesday, May 14, 2014
• Nerds of Ohio unite! My review of Best of Ohio - Friday, May 2, 2014
• Pilots/Crews I need your stories - Tuesday, April 29, 2014
• FREE Download--excerpts from SkyWriting - Monday, April 28, 2014
• I'll publish your flying story - Monday, April 28, 2014
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• My aviation memoir is on sale this weekend, March 8/9, just .99 cents Saturday! - Friday, March 7, 2014
• e-book sale this weekend - Wednesday, March 5, 2014
• The Sky Behind Me, 99 cent sale - Tuesday, March 4, 2014
• Call for submissions - Thursday, February 13, 2014
• Catching up - Thursday, February 6, 2014
• Brrrrr! - Monday, January 6, 2014
• Radio Interview tonight - Wednesday, December 4, 2013
• Is it done yet? - Wednesday, November 27, 2013
• Writing a memoir? Check into this: - Friday, November 15, 2013
• From where I sit - Tuesday, November 12, 2013
• Daily Very Short Writing Tip - Thursday, November 7, 2013
• 'To be' or to find a better verb... - Monday, November 4, 2013
• Take a hike! - Thursday, October 31, 2013
• to publish or not to publish - Wednesday, October 30, 2013
• The Sky Writer - Friday, October 25, 2013
• Free sample of The Sky Behind Me... - Thursday, October 17, 2013
• The new world of PCS - Wednesday, October 16, 2013
• Hump Day--Getting over the himp from writer's block - Wednesday, October 2, 2013
• The Three 'tells of book promotion - Monday, September 30, 2013
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• writers, you may want to stand up for this - Tuesday, September 3, 2013
• Writers: Rights, responsibilities and reinventing the flat tire. - Thursday, August 29, 2013
• How to write good - Monday, August 26, 2013
• Book trailer: The Sky Behind Me... - Friday, August 23, 2013
• Author (Self) interview - Thursday, August 22, 2013
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• Book review: Bargain With Fate Book RTwo Sage trilogy - Tuesday, August 13, 2013
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• I'm a writer--I write. Sometimes I rant. - Thursday, August 1, 2013
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• Asiana 214--poor weather might have prevented this accident - Monday, July 8, 2013
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• Aviation & Medicine--safety last? - Wednesday, May 29, 2013
• Happy Birthday GKC - Tuesday, May 28, 2013
• day of remembrance - Monday, May 27, 2013
• Lady Hooker, my initiation ceremony in Vietnam - Friday, May 24, 2013
• distribution - Tuesday, May 21, 2013
• Marriage Equality: Cleared for Takeoff - Thursday, May 16, 2013
• dead monk seals in Hawaii - Monday, May 13, 2013
• Free download - Thursday, May 9, 2013
• Free sample - Tuesday, May 7, 2013
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• Entitle-tude - Thursday, May 2, 2013
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• Aviation and life: Shared conundrums - Wednesday, April 17, 2013
• Misperceptions & helicopters--How to Fly Good #3 - Monday, April 15, 2013
• Helicopters: A Primer - Thursday, April 11, 2013
• Justitia - Wednesday, April 3, 2013
• You gotta laugh - Tuesday, April 2, 2013
• opening day 2013 - Monday, April 1, 2013
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• Equality under law - Monday, March 25, 2013
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• stones - Thursday, March 14, 2013
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• A book at the public library - Wednesday, March 6, 2013
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• Byron Edgington Bailey Prize winner for prose in 2012 - Sunday, January 6, 2013
• Looking Back--Looking ahead - Saturday, January 5, 2013
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• Featured New Release - Thursday, January 3, 2013
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• Excerpt from The Sky Behind Me, a Memoir of Flying and Life - Wednesday, December 26, 2012