Originally Posted by
mgpm
Working with developmentally disabled people---you really see a "real" person. There's so little pretense. They are who they are, for good or ill.
Which leads me back to this thread, in a way....I have known some developmentally disabled people who have been abused in the most cruel ways, abandoned and truely bereft of kindness, yet they are not violent and they still can trust people somewhat. I really think in the nature vs. nurture thing---the scale is tipped toward nature. Ted Bundy and Jeffery Dahmer both had good homes, decent parents. Not that nurture has nothing to do with how a person comes out, because it definitely has an effect...but there's only so much you can do. I've read Dahmer's father's book. He searches for anything that might have went awry in his son's life and really comes up empty handed.
In short...to some degree, life's a crap shoot for all of us. If we have our wits and health, we are ahead of the game. Way ahead.