Breaking the Cycle

The story of Antwone Fisher is an incredible story of profound pain and significant triumph. The movie tells the true story of a young boy who was neglected by his mother, abused by his foster family, and struggling to find a sense of worth his this world.

Like so many, Antwone had become a victim of another person's hurt. I think Dr. Wilson puts it well in her book Hurt People Hurt People. Throughout the chapters of this book, Dr. Wilson describes the pain that hurting people can cause others. Though in the movie we never hear about Antwone's foster mother's story, there is no doubt that the physical and emotion abuse she inflicted stemmed from a much deeper wound in her soul. Because of her hurt and her wound, Antwone became a victim of the hurt people hurting people cycle. As he gets older, Antwone gets caught up in this cycle and begins hurting others through violence.
Below is a clip from the movie where Antwone and his psychiatrist read a poem written by Antwone. What I love about this clip is that the words of the poem really capture his emotions, because even though Antwone is now an adult, inside he still feels like that little boy: lost, alone, unwanted.




Antwone's story,unfortunately, is not some fabricated Hollywood story. There are hundreds of thousands of people that suffer at the hands of wounded people. Dr. Wilson shares countless stories of children who suffer at the hands of their parents, neighbors, family members, or family friends. This world is full of hurting, wounded, hopeless people and unfortunately, there is little hope that this issue will disappear any time soon. However, there is hope. As seen in the story of Antwone Fisher, the cycle can be broken. My hope is that through stories like Antwone's and through the power found through Christ we can begin to find hope that not only can past wounds be healed, but by breaking the cycle, future wounds may be prevented as well.