Why have I been abandoned?
Many of the kids I work with are struggling with issues associated with abandonment. The problem is many on the outside can’t see it. They suspect that a child’s behavior is the result of something else.
If a teen seeks validation from the opposite sex because of the absence of a father figure in their life, they might pursue such validation through sexual experimentation. It’s not necessarily the child is bad, or even that the child knows better. They often don’t. They are just wanting love from the opposite sex but are going about it the wrong way. Too often, ignorance about a person’s history prevents us from making good decisions.
Sadly, a child doesn’t have to be placed in a children’s home to develop a sense of abandonment. Parents can ignore children who live with them. Overworked parents can lose their children and never realize it. And, of course, we all know the devastating effects divorces can have on children. Chasms between parents and children exist and a sense of abandonment is often the result.
Abandonment must be painful. Some have experienced it at home, maybe from an employer, or even a friend. You may have multiple wounds from it.
If a sense of abandonment is so painful, why would we ever want someone else to experience it from us?
Become more self-aware. Strive to not just be sympathetic, but instead seek to be empathetic. You might wind up seeing more than you would have ever imagined in another person for having done so.
