A Tear in the Fabric

A robin redbreast in a cage

Puts all of nature in a rage

William Blake was outraged by the idea of a bird in a cage, it being a violation of the natural order. One can only imagine what he would think about children in cages, an outrage which should put all human nature in a rage. Americans and many in other countries were shocked when they learned that children were separated from their parents as the fugitive families attempted to gain entry into America. They sought to get away from the brutality of their own country only to be met with a more “civilized” kind of brutality, which is, of course, not civilized at all; in fact, it makes a mockery of America as a supposedly civilized nation. Separation of children from their families comes in many forms. Illness of a parent can set it in motion, as can the hospitalization of a child. Anyone who has experienced the horror of war knows that fathers go to war; children can be fatherless for significant periods of time. Death of a parent or parents can leave children bereft. Natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis can play havoc with the stability and cohesion of family bonds. But the kind of forced separations that have occurred at the border between Mexico and America that Trump's sadistic zero tolerance has engineered is especially barbaric in a nation whose symbol is the Statue of Liberty, which welcomes “the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free” into the arms of a tolerant, enlightened nation. Shame seems to have little clout in the current political management of our great nation.

Psychoanalysts know that a child's attempt to build a sense of constant love and safety is the outcome of many factors. A child learns to tolerate the normal frustrations of child development as long as the bond between mother and infant remains stable. If the child is angry and frustrated at times, she/he learns to appreciate that anger does not destroy love as