Continuing the cycles of violence

I'm still trying to figure out why people are the way they are even though I know this is something I'll never figure out in my lifetime.

Today, I read something about Scott Peterson's mother that got me thinking about such things again because I wondered how could someone who loved and cherished her son so much could produce such a violent heir. It turns out her father was violently murdered when she was young; her mother was unable to care for her so she ended up in an orphanage. I can't imagine how horrible that must have been for such a young child, to lose both mother and father. I do accept that the mere presence of violence in her life is not in itself an explanation for violence in the next generation. But still, but still.

Tragic how the cycle of violence which probably began generations before either of them were born continued on to the next.

While I've been largely ignoring the whole Peterson circus thing as a rule, this bit of info about the mom led me thinking about parenting, especially that which is unconscious and unintentional, which inevitably gets passed on from generation to generation. But what is even more likely to be passed on are unresolved issues, especially those related to violence. Trauma does a lot to a child and a family, even to a community and a nation; how we respond to trauma will also make a difference in the next generation.

What is frightening to me is that BushCo policies tend to reinforce a worldview that does make life harsher for the masses and would be passed on into the next generation to be part of a cycle of violence. The whole concept of destroying the social net seems to be particularly repellant.

Their policies will make it even harder to get out of this cycle.