The Tragedy of Ignorance.
Twenty years ago a tragedy was developing in a small community that .
would probably have been avoided today. An intelligent, loving, and caring .
woman started to exhibit strange behaviors. She was a wonderful wife and mother, .
who was active in her community. Her appearance started to drastically change. .
Her friends could tell that she wasn't taking a bath or washing her hair. The caring .
mother of three began to ignore her children. The changes were slow in .
happening, but eventually her friends became concerned that Barbara might have .
some kind of mental illness and voiced their concerns to her husband. Joe, her .
husband did not believe that there was such a thing as mental illness and said .
that she would snap out of it. Her decline continued but her husband ignored the .
signs even though her mother had been diagnosed with schizophrenia years .
earlier. .
She began to speak about the devil and the numbers 666.Barbara felt like .
the devil was taking over the world. She would not buy anything that contained .
the number six anywhere on it or on its label. She became obsessed with the anti-.
Christ, wondering who he was and when he would be found. Barbara's family and .
friends could see that she was in trouble, but Joe and his family insisted that she .
was alright and that she didn't have any mental problems. She continued to drive .
her car even when it was obvious that she was not completely aware of what she .
was doing. On an errand for her husband, she ran a stop sign and hit another car .
broadside, injuring the driver, who happened to be her father returning home .
from work. Her father was brought to a local hospital with a ruptured spline. He .
had been an alcoholic for years and his liver was not able to assume the work of .
the spline, and he died two days after the accident. Now she was faced with this .
horror as well as the mental illness.
