Theos-Talk Archives (June 1997 Message tl00468)

Tom offered quotes:

> Page 95: "The distraught Annie Besant, trapped between two loyalties,
> decided in favour of the older and stronger.  On 26 February 1906, she
> answered Mrs. Dennis [who was accusing Leadbeater] from Shanti Kunja,
> accepting Leadbeater’s explanation, and pointing out how unfair it was to
> condemn a man unheard, on the accusations of two confused boys."

Now this is a cryptic paragraph!  Annie ". . .decided in favour of the
older and stronger."  Older and stronger?  That's an interesting, and
haunting, choice of words.

And doesn't that preference continue to this day?

Annie referred to the children as "two confused boys."  Two confused
boys! - most children who have been abused are confused.

And doubting the mental capacity of a victim of sexual abuse is a
common, though faulty, reaction.


Tom concluded:

> What he did may have
> lacked tact, but it was not child abuse.

Really?  What you consider "lacked tact" may, to a child, seem like
abuse.  Some boys are traumatized by having to be seen naked in a high
school gym locker - now, let's have some of these same boys sitting in a
circle with their peers, not only exposed, but possibly having to
"perform" - do you think all boys would come out unscathed?  Woe to
those who with a "puny penis" or something else schoolmates could
forever mock you with.

CWL has just handed us a whopping amount of group karma to work off.

And I am disappointed with Annie - it does sound from your quotes that
she chose to preserve the reputation of the Theosophical Society rather
than taking the high road.  She may have sacrificed two (or more)
children to preserve the Society.

I am sick at heart by what I have deduced from the quotes.


Kym