Recently I came across a situation that made me think about many things – about education, about where violence comes from, about helping those who live nearby.
My daughter and I live in a three-story house, there are few neighbors, we all know each other. A 90-year-old grandmother lives on the same site with me. Very quiet, polite, caring, a couple of times I even asked her to look after my daughter while she was ill. Grandma didn’t talk much about herself, about her family. She only told me how she worked at a factory in the rear during the war, and then worked as a storekeeper until retirement. A nice granny and a good neighbor. But six months ago, her grandson moved in with her. I was surprised at first, because I thought that the woman had no relatives – she lives alone, no one goes to visit, she didn’t tell anything about children and grandchildren. It turned out that her son drinks, does not communicate with her and does not help in any way. He got to the point that the guardianship service took his teenage son away from him. The only relative was this granny.
The neighbor was very happy about the arrival of her grandson, at first she told me a lot about him, but gradually I began to meet her less and less often. I didn’t suspect anything until my daughter told me that she heard terrible screams behind the wall. I went to the neighbor, but she denied everything. One evening I myself heard my grandmother yelling in a voice that was not her own, there was a knock and a crash. Then I called the police, but the neighbors didn’t open the door. The sounds subsided for four days, and then the bullying began anew. Hearing these screams was simply unbearable, and I realized that I had to do something and save my neighbor.
For a week I tried to catch Granny in the entrance or in the yard to talk alone, and finally I succeeded. The grandmother was terribly frightened, said that her grandson was hitting her on the head, setting her hair on fire, beating her with a mop. He is already registered, does not study at the boarding school in which he was placed. I convinced her that this could no longer continue and she needed to contact the guardianship authorities. We parted on this, but on the same day the beatings started again. The grandmother was scared again and did not call the guardianship. When the police arrived, no one opened the door again. After a few days of silence, I had to call the police again, because judging by the sounds in the neighboring apartment, the situation escalated even more. This time the neighbor opened the door, but already in blood – the grandson beat her on the head and cut her forehead. With my help, grandma wrote a statement, the guardianship service arrived and took the boy to an orphanage.
The neighbor is in the hospital – the whole body is bruised, there are internal injuries, broken ribs. If she had continued to suffer bullying and beatings, then her grandson could have killed her. He is still in the orphanage, the commission on juvenile affairs is dealing with him, he faces prison. But the most interesting thing is that the grandson asks for it back, transmits through the custody service that he wants to live with his grandmother. I’m trying to convince Grandma that I can’t agree to this, but I’m afraid she’ll take him anyway.
I don’t know how it happened that the neighbor’s son got so low, but the situation with a teenage grandson is quite predictable. It shows that no one was engaged in him, perhaps he was subjected to violence, lived in poor conditions. This does not at all justify the fact that he bullied his grandmother and almost killed her, but he did not just become so cruel. The history of this family, unfortunately, is typical. Terrible conditions, irresponsibility, lack of money and moral desolation lead to the fact that such “grandchildren” are obtained.
I really hope that the neighbor will be able to leave her grandson in the orphanage, despite his pleas. And they will take care of the boy and help him not to go to prison or become like his father. And my daughter and I will no longer hear the terrible screams behind the wall.
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