Intergenerational Trauma

The boarding schools were, in short, appalling. Many of them are still around and operational today. Of course, by 2009, reforms have been widespread -- they're simply not like that, today. So, one might ask, why does it need to be a concern today? Why unearth a hidden, painful past?
Intergenerational Trauma is the theory that some acts are so strong that their echoes affect up to seven generations into the future. I must admit, when I first heard of this concept, I was pretty doubtful. Time-travelling pain? Genetic experiences?
Now, it seems so obviously straightforward that it couldn't possibly be anything but correct.
Read the previous post again. Now, imagine that when you were three (the youngest age schools allowed), you were taken at gunpoint from your family. By the time you were six, you had a permenent limp from a whipping you'd received, you'd seen a friend sexually abused, and you rarely speak. By the time you were twelve, you'd been sexually abused yourself, many times over. You had no real connection with other people -- some schools kept a sharp eye out for student friendships: If two students became friends, they were separated and put in different dorms. You fear adults, and are frequently beaten.
Now, you're twenty, and you suddenly find yourself with your first child.
What kind of parent are you going to be? What kind of wife or husband are you going to be? What kind of family will you create?
You can have the best heart, and a true desire to do your best -- but you've never experienced love. You have no idea how a parent is supposed to behave: you haven't seen one since you were three. You haven't cried since you were five, because it earned you a beating every time.

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You're three years old. You parents are emotionally distant, and often spend time staring into space or drinking in despair. You're twelve. Hitting is a common form of punishment, and your parents are frequently drunk. They never say anything about themselves or their past, and they're nearly strangers to you. You can never remember being hugged. You're sixteen. You're desparate to get out of your home. You drink heavily, yourself -- it's always easily accessible. Deep down, you're angry. You're so angry -- always so angry at your parents, the world, your life.

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You're three years old. Your parents are only 20 and 21. Their relationship is based on neediness, not love. They drink, and they're angry when they drink.

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You're a child of the fourth generation. Your great-grandparents went to boarding schools -- a fact which you know nothing about. As you move into your teens, you find yourself wondering why you're so angry inside. Why is your older brother already an addict? Why is your family life so unhappy?
And you have no idea, but in a few years it will majorly affect your ability to be an effective parent, neighbor, community member, and friend.

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Intergenerational Truama. If there were only problem, one generation that grew up abused, only one major shock, it will only wear off after seven generations.
The abusive boarding schools lasted for many, many years, and have spawned a number of new atrocities that have set their own seven-generation cycles into effect. Some boarding schools remained abusive up until the current middle-aged generation. Those communities might remain wounded until the their current newborns' great-great-great-grandchildren.