Thursday, December 5, 2013
Alone
Alone
My
mother has some dirty laundry; I think it’s time to air it out,
Air out, the repugnant stench from the pain
and suffering that is buried in her contoured soul.
I sit and watch my mother
struggle to be free again but is a prisoner of death,
She’s
dead!
My father’s passing
striped her soul from her body leaving an empty corpse rotting from the inside
out.
Her spirit longs to
be completed again so she starts and innocent collection of toy army green men.
I sit and watch as my
mother tortures her with the memories of my long gone father.
She pushing me away
when I need her the most , but she only wants to be ……..
Alone
My mother has some
skeletons in her closet; I think it’s time to set free,
Set free the
mountains of useless junk that clog our house creating homes for vicious
insects and disease spreading rodents.
I sit and watch as
they create holes and destroy clothes and climb over the dishes I eat from.
She
is blind!
A house is not a home
if there is no love there.
She watches me bleed
the same from her very veins as the furious insect bites as they invade my skin
and inject me with their venom.
She pushing me away
when I need her the most, but she only wants to be……
Alone
My mother has a caged
bird in her soul that is ready for flight; I think it’s time to set it free,
Free us both from the
death’s cold cruel vicious hands that suffocate us in this house.
I sit and watch as
she continues to push me away further and further from her ice cold heart,
there is no more love.
I
am running away!
No longer can I live
in this house and be denied by the very woman who gave birth to me.
No longer will I
watch as she rots and self destructs god’s creation.
She has pushed me
away, and now she will be……
Alone
My mother needs a
seed of faith that I can no longer provide,
As this tear streams
roll down my eyes I see her…..
I see myself and we
are one and the same.
She sits in her
corner as I watch her in silence in
disbelief she is still not happy…..
Alone!
A Buried Lost Soul
Melanie Childs
English II-4th
block
Mckoy
31st August
2013
A
Buried Lost Soul
Have you ever wonder what it would be like to
live in a house infested with rats, roaches and other creepy crawlers? Have you
ever wonder how it would feel to have a parent/ guardian to think that these
living conditions are normal? In the United States alone there are hundreds of
children living with compulsive hoarders as parents. TLC brought compulsive
hoarding to the Public eye on the show “Hoarding Buried Alive.” The show’s main
goal was to show the public how the mental stability of these everyday people
affected their living conditions often putting their health in jeopardy. From
the show hoarders became looked upon as filthy dirty slobs that will not clean
their house, but in their world which is not revealed to the public they are
lost in our society and need materialistic things to make them feel wanted.
Despite the fact that many have children they still feel the urge to keep what
will live forever resulting in negative health effects such as infestation. My mother was first exposed to the negative
effects of compulsive hoarding while taking care of a hospice client fighting
lung cancer. For him every day was a battle, climbing over mounds of trash,
struggling to find a clean non- infested cup to drink water from and being
around diseased rodents 24 hours a day. Before his departure his last wish was
to have his great- grand children removed from the vile environment and to be
sent to live with their uncle. After his departure my mother became ill from
vicious spider bites and many unknown markings on her body. The children that
were living in the compulsive hoarding environment were exposed to infinite
amounts of diseases. I strongly that hoarders with children should have their
parental rights temporarily revoked until housing conditions improve well
enough so that the children’s health risk will not be in jeopardy.
The
Department of Psychiatry estimated that 1.2 million people in the United States
suffer from compulsive hoarding. If more than just half of those people have
children, those children are exposed to infestation, and are limited to a very
small living space. These children must wonder why they have to live in these
poor conditions and what even caused their parental figure to become a
compulsive hoarder in the beginning. To many people, they believe that
compulsive hoarding is caused by depression or neglect. According to the
Department of Psychiatry states that “Discarding valuable
items that might be needed or useful someday, losing important
information, making a mistake, being wasteful, losing something that reminds a
person of a loved one, not being able to do things as completely or as well as
one would like”(UCSD 1). These are just
few of the numerous causes of compulsive hoarding. These six causes of
compulsive hoarding can be discarded over time ranging from months to 1-10
years. These 6 causes show no signs of a
mental stability problem, therefore not putting children at risk if they return
to their parental figure. Children being temporarily removed from their
parental figure will easily return after the signs of compulsive hoarding have
subsided. These six causes only last for a short period of time; however some
may say that if the cause comes back the children will yet again be exposed to
the compulsive hoarding, but relapses of a compulsive hoarder with found with
these six causes are rarely seen.
In
those 1.2 million people some may suffer from a post traumatic event in their
life or may even have PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). PTSD has a lot of
different reactions on different people, but in this case PTSD is leading to
compulsive hoarding. “ Patients ranging in various age groups with PTSD
responding well to treatment in regards to compulsive hoarding.”(Shavitt 7).
out of the 1.2 million people suffering from compulsive hoarding, children
living with a parental figure who is also suffering from PTSD and not receiving
treatment should be temporarily removed from custody until the guardian is
regularly receiving treatment and is responding positively. Some may say that
as an adult the patient can stop treatment in belief that they can continue to
respond positively without the enhancer and result into a relapse of compulsive
hoarding. I believe as adult stopping the enhancer the children should be taken
into temporary custody until medication continues.
Children
living in these unsuitable environments are suffering from health issues that
can be fatal. These children will mature in to believing that it is okay and
completely normal to become a compulsive hoarder, resulting into putting their
children in the same infested environment. Some people may agree with me and
say that until the housing conditions have improved and become suitable for a
human being to live then the children should not return to the custody of their
parental figure. Some people may argue that once a compulsive hoarder you will
forever be a compulsive hoarder and say that the children should be permanently
removed from the custody of their guardian. I would like to further my research
because I believe that every child should be able to live a safe home. I
believe that no child should endure painful spider bites and become ill from
rodents. Can you imagine living in the same household as rats, roaches, and
mold? Could you imagine being in a cramp room filled with clutter and gassy
smells? Could you imagine having a parent believe that this type of living is
normal?
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Letter to the Editor of Sun News
Horry County Schools
2050 Hwy. 501 E.
P.O. Box 261966
Conway SC 29528-6066
September 19, 2013
The
Sun News,
Letter to the Editor,
P.O. Box 406
Myrtle Beach, SC 29578
Dear Editor- in-Chief,
Could
you imagine lying in a room filled with useless clutter? Could you imagine
trying to enjoy a decent meal and having furry little creatures crawling
everywhere? Could you imagine being trapped in a pile of filth and suffering terribly
from the negative health problems caused by it?
Every day children living with compulsive hoarders suffer from all the
above! When will enough be enough?
Many
compulsive hoarders have suffered from traumatic events in their lives and self
medicated by surrounding themselves with materialistic things. These same
hoarders also have children. Hoarding is barely seen by the public but was
brought to the light by TLC and A&E television show Hoarders a buried life.
On this show you will see how these children have to live day after day,
climbing over mountain tops of junk, brushing their teeth and eating food with
roaches and more infestation, sleeping with rodents and suffering from painful
bites of all kinds. Now ask your self is this a good parent?
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