“I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother”

Most parents in the United States have spent the last few days imagining what it would be like to be the mother or father of one of the 20 little school children murdered on Friday in Connecticut.
 But there’s another group of parents who watched this horror story unfurl with an opposite and perhaps more excruciating thought—what if the madman were my child?
 These mothers and fathers, parents of mentally ill children and young adults can’t say that they are afraid of their own children or admit that they know what it’s like to have a bright child whose rages could, under circumstances they can’t predict, lead them to kill innocent people the way that Adam Lanza is alleged to have done at Sandy Hook Elementary.
 But this week, one of these mothers stepped forward with an eloquent, wrenching cry for help that has echoed across the web.
In a blog post republished on The Blue Review entitled “I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother,”

Liza Long writes: “I live with a son who is mentally ill. I love my son. But he terrifies me….” She goes on: “I am sharing this story because I am Adam Lanza’s mother. I am Dylan Klebold’s and Eric Harris’s mother. I am James Holmes’s mother. I am Jared Loughner’s mother. I am Seung-Hui Cho’s mother. And these boys—and their mothers—need help. In the wake of another horrific national tragedy, it’s easy to talk about guns. But it’s time to talk about mental illness.”

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