Tears of the Silenced: A True Crime and an American Tragedy; Severe Child Abuse and Leaving the Amish by Misty Griffin

Author:Misty Griffin [Griffin, Misty]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Misty Griffin
Published: 2014-12-23T00:00:00+00:00

Ancient Traditions

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”

― Aldous Huxley, Complete Essays 2, 1926-29

After that incident I tried to ignore Jacob whenever I could, and Lillian noticed and rewarded me by calling me her daughter—something she had not previously done. I realized that any contact with males inside the church was going to get me in trouble somehow and so I decided to try and ignore them all, except for the ones who were under seventeen.

Jacob was angered by this turn of events, and I could tell the honeymoon stage of his attraction to me was over. Be that as it may, he tried even harder to get me alone, but I always kept one of the children close to me in order to prevent his advances.

I was starting to realize that Jacob's treatment of Lillian was worse than I had previously thought and that made me sad for her and angry at Jacob. He took every chance he had to ridicule her and often made her cry. She in turn was generally very submissive and I could tell she tried hard to please him but she couldn’t. Sometimes I would walk up on her when she was just staring out the window with tears streaming down her cheeks, other times when I would walk out to the outhouse I would hear her sobbing and quietly retrace my steps.

She sometimes referred to herself as a “worn out shoe that was no longer wanted” in front of Jacob and the children, but even then Jacob showed her no sympathy and continued to ridicule her for being to heavy (which she was not) or to slow and so on. It was no wonder that she had not taken nicely to me and was sometimes hostile. I was getting what she so much longed for from her husband, attention and emotional affection. I had not asked for it but it was there and poor Lillian was beside herself with sorrow and jealousy.

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