Friday, September 17, 2010

Self-Inflicted




Bethanny Storro, the woman who claimed to be the victim of an acid attack, has a far stranger story to tell. The case played out as follows -- Bethanny claimed an African-American woman in her twenties approached her with a glass and said, Hey pretty girl, do you want a drink? After she declined, a cup of acid was thrown in her face. Wearing sunglasses just purchased with money from a new job, Bethanny claimed her eyesight had been saved by God. Now we know that she rubbed the acid on herself, inflicting horrible burns. After the supposed attack, Bethanny was praised for her bravery and compassion. She said she had only one question for her attacker -- Why? When the attacker is yourself, this question still pertains, but the answer is the stuff of psychiatric studies. Who would do this to herself? And why the old tried and true gambit of a black person did this to me?

Her scheduled appearance on Oprah has been cancelled because of her "fragile state." Damn, I'll say! A lot of people hurt themselves. Baby Grouchie, as beautiful Jodi pointed out, has been overserved on many occasions (not many bartenders will cut him off because he tends to throw tantrums) and has the subsequent predictable "I'm going to stay in my trashcan all morning" regrets. My mother was so clumsy that instead of How was your day? my dad used to ask her, How did you hurt yourself today? Of course, lots of people starve and cut themselves. But rubbing acid on your face seems beyond the pale. When I heard Bethanny's first report, I sent out lots of prayers for healing for her. Of course, I'm still going to do that. It seems she might need them even worse than I thought.

Michelle's Spell of the Day
"Other people can do these things, so can we!" Angela Bills

Cocktail Hour
My dear Steph is back with another blog post on her condition. Please check it out and send lots of love her way!

Benedictions and Maledictions
Happy Friday!

5 comments:

Shea Goff said...

wow, this one is hard to touch. so really what first comes to my mind in the grand psychiatric studies are obvious things...the whole cry for help, someone look at me, needing attention for being a victim and thus becoming a victim of yourself.

but then again, what do I know, huh? like Grouchie, maybe we can all relate in less obvious ways.

what I do think is that you're right. she paid an incredible price for her need to be noticed, to write a story of victimazation by a steroetypical perpetrator. I'm not judging her. I'm praying for her too 'cause now she may catch herself in the mirror when her guard is down. She needs our prayers, I think.

As usual, you amaze me. I have no knowledge of what is going on in the world 90% of the time so you are my news source, and, I think, are wonderful at conveying the most newsworthy stories.

Seriously genius you are.

G. B. Miller said...

Man, that is just so way beyond abnormal that it really does defy description.

Pathetic is what it boils down to.

the walking man said...

Actually without more specific details about what her life entailed from birth to the moment the acid touched her face I am just going to say that (and I am not being funny here) her chemical burns will be considered a pre-existing condition if health care reform is repealed.

Beyond that "the fervent effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much" it says somewhere in one of those books.

Charles Gramlich said...

Hard to feel sad and angered at the same time but I do.

Anonymous said...

As well you know, especially when dealing with persons of weak psyche, shit happens.

The traumas of the damned are rarely surprising.