Imagine what it must feel like to be treated like a piece of meat. To be afraid all the time and have no one to turn to, to be betrayed by the people closest to you. To misinterpret everyday events as plots hatched by an unseen enemy that’s everywhere, waiting, just waiting for you to drop your guard and take a false step.

Imagine what it must be like to exist in an environment so toxic and unpredictable that each hour could be your last. To interact with people who wear masks of many faces, none the same from hour to hour, never knowing the right thing to say or do or who, if anyone, you can trust, not even the one you grew up alongside.

Imagine never having a moment to relax, to just sit and be. To be wound so tight you’re always sick, or crying, or angry, and you dare not speak a word of this for fear of reprisal.

Now imagine you’re only five years old and you think this is the way of the world because you have no other reference point.

Can you imagine this?

If you said yes, you’re a liar. Only someone who survived that world could. If you’re one of the few who have, how did it change you? Did you turn your rage inward? Did you become a monster?

I know someone who grew up this way. My life changed forever because of it.