Jim* tenderly, patiently cared for his father as he lay dying. Day after day, when everyone else turned their backs, Jim was there. And when his father's last breath came, Jim's was the last face he saw. That's what Jim wanted, because...
... Jim wanted his face to be the last thing his father saw. He wanted his father to know, at the time of his last breath, that Jim had outlived him.
Jim had suffered a horrific childhood at the hands of this man and this was the way he fought back. I don't usually endorse revenge, but somehow, this seemed fitting. This was Jim's way of being a better man than his father. Of assuring himself and his father that he had survived the horror. Of freeing himself from his torturer. And of differentiating himself from his father. And then the healing began.
People sometimes ask how I listen to such sad and horrible things all day. Don't I get depressed? No. After all these years I still find myself amazed at the wit, the courage, the intelligence, the compassion, the strength, the perseverance, the grace and the humor that people find within themselves to overcome incredible horrors. Humans can be capable of incredible atrocities. But we are also capable of rising to great heights and finding ingenious solutions to life's problems.
*Client vignettes are fictionalized to protect their privacy and confidentiality.