Member-only story
The God Complex
A Life of Chaos
Ever since he was a little boy, he always felt inferior. He wanted to explore, experiment, try out new things. But he was always stifled, restricted, told what he ought to do, should do, must do. In the face of these instructions, diktats, he erected a mountain of resentment.
As he grew older, his stepfather, a big, imposing man, a man with a bad temper and his own mountain of psychological problems, would yell at him, berate him, treat him with contempt and derision, make him feel worthless. He would lecture him for hours on Saturdays and/or Sundays, the days when his mother would work overtime in law offices to help support the family that the stepfather couldn’t because of being blacklisted as a conscientious objector during the Korean War.
The lectures inculcated values that were anti-American, contrary to the baloney taught in schools, published in newspapers and magazines, and broadcast on television and in the movies. He was taught that America was the land of hypocrisy, rape of the environment, genocide of the native peoples, and enslavement of black and brown peoples, all while promoting itself as “the great bastion of Liberty and Democracy.”
As he grew up, he had many personality problems of his own. He was afraid of the truth. He avoided confrontations, battles, challenges. He didn’t like sales and…
