Short Stories

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Different Perspective-Different Diagnosis

Although young Timothy appeared to be gregarious and outgoing, his teacher was concerned about him. Despite the happy picture he presented to the outer world, she feared that he was suffering from low esteem. In his mind, he had created a fantasy about his father that could not be dispelled.

“My father is a hero, a great warrior who has saved countless of lives”, he often bragged. “When I grow up, I will be just like him.” When confronted about how many men his father had killed in battle, Timothy would look shocked and appalled and firmly aver that his father did not kill but rather saved. He insisted that once his fathers’ work was completed that he would retire to a great mansion where he would wait for Timothy.

Also, the teacher was disturbed about the abuse she suspected that Timothy endured. He was so brain washed that he even claimed that his parents spanked him because they loved him. The thought of a grown person striking one so young made her shudder. She had never laid a hand on her children in anger or punishment.

Concerned, she contacted the governmental authorities and had the child welfare pick Timothy up from school. As she watched him cry, screaming for his parents as the worker forced him to the waiting car, she felt smug, knowing that she had just “saved” another child.

Timothy was sent to see a state psychiatrist for evaluation. The counselors’ report was damning for his parents. In his “professional” opinion, the child psychiatrist concluded that Timothy did indeed suffer from delusion, social detachment, that he was the victim of corporal punishment and was the victim of his fathers’ grand illusions. In his “expert” opinion, Timothy would be better off if he was removed from his dysfunctional home, placed in a foster home and continue to receive counseling.

The lawyers for Timothy’s parents also had him evaluated by another child psychiatrist. According to this counselor, Timothy came from a well balanced family life. Both his parents were Christians who lived their lives according to the standards in the Bible. Yes, Timothy was at times subjected to physical punishment; however, he was not beat or abused, but rather, disciplined in a loving manner. As far as his father being a hero and great warrior, in Timothy’s eyes, he was just that. But it was not physical warfare that Timothy was alluding to, but, rather, the spiritual. His father converted many people to Christianity and therefore, did indeed save their lives from eternal damnation. He lived an upright moral life, practicing what he preached and yes, was admired by his son. The mansion was the mansion in heaven where when his father died; he would live out his eternal life.

Timothy was indeed returned to the custody of his parents, much to the chagrin and mortification of his self-righteous atheist teacher who could not comprehend what being a Christian really meant.

In my eyes, Timothy’s father a Christian man who practiced his faith was indeed a hero, a great warrior.


Kathleen Ann Shelton

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