“I can forgive those parents who have stepped forward and begged for forgiveness and who are willing to bend over backwards to make up for what happened, but those parents who are still so puffed up and won't stand by their kids are as bad as the abusers.”

Should Parents Be Let Off the Hook?
Name Withheld On Request

I am having a very difficult time understanding why more parents are not standing up now to support their children who were abused in the gurukula.

Don't the parents realize that they are mostly responsible for the abuse that took place because they shirked their duties as parents by abandoning their kids to an institution to raise them?

Our parents may claim they were just doing what they were told, but I just don't buy it. Parents could have left and taken their kids out of the gurukula at any time and many chose to do so. Others were so blinded and brainwashed by the religion that they basically abandoned their kids.

I am angry with the parents who are still in denial that they are at all responsible for the atrocities that took place. There are many parents who are still staunch believers in the philosophy and they can't bear to think that their whole lives have been a waste.

I believe their lives have been a waste, because if they had not joined the religion and abandoned their kids, this lawsuit wouldn't be happening now, would it?

I can forgive those parents who have stepped forward and begged for forgiveness and who are willing to bend over backwards to make up for what happened, but those parents who are still so puffed up and won't stand by their kids are as bad as the abusers.

The parents are the cause of our suffering because had they been involved in our lives, most of the abuse could have been stopped. It was a known fact that if your parents called or visited, you most likely wouldn't be as harassed. It was the kids who had little to no contact with their parents that were abused the most.

So, I think it is high time for the parents to get off their high horses and take some blame and responsibilty for what happened. Start off by giving some support to your own kid and really listening to their story instead of standing up for the blasted institution.

© CHAKRA 7-August-2000

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