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Thursday, August 03, 1995 Page: 3A
A mother cries out
Bracing herself against the shock of deja vu, the woman watched the news in
stunned silenceOn the television screen, police led former WNEP-TV news
reporter Jim Renick down the steps of his Moosic apartment after charging him
with molesting a 12-year-old Wilkes-Barre boy.
Troubled and sad, she thought of her own young son and their experience
with a terribly similar scene.
Concerned about parents throughout the region who wonder whether their own
children’s innocence has been pillaged, the sheer evil of it all came rushing
back to threaten her.
Sitting before her TV, she remembered how just a few years ago, uncertainty
and torn emotion engulfed her and family like fingers of fire.
Ironically, it was another Jim, another former area newsman from Lackawanna
County who had befriended her son. Then a basketball coach, the man had
expressed great interest in her boy.
Embarrassed to say it now, she and her husband believed in him.
To her son, Jim Collins was terrific.
Then the kid tried to kill himself.
Extensive treatment and therapy helped put the child back together again.
Testifying against his rapist was brutal. Facing his tormenter was terrifying.
Struggling, the kid survived.
Jim is serving 10-20 years at the State Correctional Institution at Dallas.
When it was over, a weary mother tried to put into words just what she had
learned from her son’s suffering. Equally strong was her motivation to help
other boys victimized by pedophiles and reassure them that help is available.
Although she wrote a 26-page essay about her experience, no editor has
expressed interest.
Because she wants to share her feelings because they’re important to her
and she needs to reach out, today she and I share this space that tests our
community and examines our lives.
This middle-aged mother’s words might not be as polished as the syntax in
magazines like Cosmopolitan and McCall’s (which she says rejected her story).
But they’re awfully real.
Such sentiment marks a beginning in the need to comprehend the reality of
child sexual abuse that occurs in our region day after day, year after year.
In “A Letter For All Sons Who Were Victims Of Child Molesters,” the woman
expresses hope that kids and parents alike will stand together against this
fierce disease.
“Dear Son,” she wrote at the end of her tale. “You may still be a young
child, an older teenager or years may have gone by and you may now be a young
man. And to this day no one but you and him know that you were the victim of
his abuse. Son, if no one knows, please tell me. I will understand. Don’t keep
it inside of you. It will only cause you harm. Ease your hurt by letting me
hurt with you. Ease your pain by letting me share your pain.
“Don’t be ashamed, let me be ashamed for you. You were not at fault; I will
not blame you; you were the child; he was the adult. He led you to believe he
was a great man. He gained your trust and mine. He was your friend, he became
your hero. You knew him and trusted him. He took away something that was yours
alone — he took away your childhood, all your boyhood dreams of what a hero
was, and made you feel bad about yourself.
“Son, please don’t feel bad, no matter what happened, you’re still you;
that will never change. You are still the same person you were before you
became the victim. You’re still my son, no matter how much time has gone by.
“Son, if I could turn back the hands of time, I would put myself in your
place when you were being abused and I would take the hurt and pain because I
would never want anyone to hurt you, my little boy, my son.
“All my love, Mother of a victim.”
Steve Corbett’s column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.