Reply To: Life as the son of a Child Molester: My story

ayc, thank you. To answer the first question, I would tell kids that are being shunned that many times, things look bad to us, we think there’s no end to our suffering, and we wonder “why me?”. But the truth is, we never know the full picture. Only G-d does. So we may be stuck on a few sharp puzzle pieces at the moment, but after a while, we see how the pieces fit together to create a beautiful scenic view. G-d gives us these challenges because He knows we, and not others, can deal with them, rise above them, and even become great because of them. We should consider ourselves lucky that G-d is giving us the opportunity early in our lives to show our loyalty to Him, to overcome obstacles, adversity, and evil. It is a path straight to G-d’s throne. Not everyone has that opportunity. Not everyone is given the chance to show loyalty to G-d so openly, so early in their lives, and so often. If we realize all this, then we can not only make it through the challenges we face, but even thrive on them. Be glad that we have such an amazing opportunity in our hands. That we are the lucky few that G-d chose to demonstrate to the Jewish nation, and to the world, how to live by, accept, and thrive on, G-d’s command. That we were chosen because we have something special in us, and G-d knows this, and He is giving us a way of using that special power so openly, it is almost as if He is talking to us, saying “Look at your potential! Here, I will now give an opportunity to reach that potential, to show others how to live!”

To answer the second question, I believe it is all about perception and sensitivity. Often, we get so caught up in our own personal lives, that we seem to think that we only need to care for ourselves and just make sure we “make it through” to the other side. But really, we, as Jews, have an inherent responsibility to our fellow Jews. We need to be more perceptive. We need to open our eyes to the situations of others. We need to realize that the best way to make it to G-d’s throne after 120 years is by spreading G-d’s glory to the “less fortunate” people of our nation. We have to learn how to be more sensitive to others’ needs, how to feel others’ pain. If we get to the point where we can feel others’ pain, we would WANT to help them. It would hurt us to see them still suffering. But we can’t see them suffering if we choose to ignore them. If we are shunning them, we are saying “I don’t want to lower myself to even NOTICE that this person is in pain. It will make me less comfortable, or less popular.” That is a terrible attitude. If we truly believe in G-d, we would RUN to help people in such situations. We would see that G-d it telling us “Look! See that person in pain! Here’s an amazing opportunity to be sensitive to him, to raise yourself to an even higher level!” But we have to see it that way, first. We have to be perceptive to such things. So, it is a process, it will take time to be on such a level, but it is so worth it.