Whipped and Hog-tied...

I've been whipped and hog-tied by a number of insults over the years. Weathered and beaten by them too. But none more damaging than: 'I don't think you'll be a good father.'

(You 'accidentally' poke the neighbor kid with a lit cigarette half a dozen or so times on like three different occasions, mostly for fun...and all the sudden you'd make a bad father?)

The insanity of that one (and the certainty in which it was delivered) still frightens every atom of my being.