Date Posted:10:01:52 06/26/01 Tue Author: SM78 Subject: Re: I wondered about him too In reply to:
gidge
's message, "I wondered about him too" on 20:53:35 06/25/01 Mon
I read that he was a rigid religious man. Religious rigidity is compassionless and dictates a Calvinist work ethic that will not abide any slacking off. Any so-called "mental illness" can be handled by God, and, failing that, one would make a concession and call in the doctor to keep your wife doing her job 24/7.
I've seen my wife going without much sleep for days on end when our two kids (who are sixteen months apart) are sick. The stress she endures scares me and I make her get out. School was out last week and our ten week remodeling was also completed. I've insisted that she sleep in every day this week to catch up on sleep she missed during the past few months owing to illnesses of the kids, her being sick, the remodel, and homework with argumentative kids. That I am unemployed and the kids are older allows us to do this.
I'm also sending up to Santa Barbara for a weekend with her sister so she can get out of the house.
Raising children is godawful hard work most of the time. I guess Jack Lewis does not stress over it according to his own posts. But I stress out because I worry and need to discipline two boys. As Plato said, "Of all the beasts, boys are the hardest to tame."
I can only understand the woman who killed her kids in terms of severe mental illness. That her husband didn't see the severity of her illness is indeed perplexing. Still, he must be torn completely apart inside. I can't imagine facing a tragedy of this dimension.
