ML & LM & RM

Martin Luther (ML) is credited with saying "Each betrayal begins with trust." 

Linda Morey (LM) introduced the deadly weapon to the murderous gang on October 11, 2015. 

Now, RM is a mysterious character. I've known her since I was about 8 years old, when she was 20 and living in Richfield Springs. I observed the courtship between her and the father of her four children. My dad had a paternal friendship with the couple, such that RM asked my father to walk her down the aisle at her wedding. They had been early adherents of Irwinism, among the earliest members of the Word of Life precursor--City on a Hill, the congregation meeting on porches and then in a basement. RM stayed nearly till the end, raising her children under Irwinism. Her ex had quit attending before she did. Her exit was in January 2014. 

Before RM and her younger 3 children left, she and I had developed a close friendship--she even called me her little sister, and I definitely saw her as an older sister. Let's rewind though. 

Picture it: spring in Chadwicks, NY, 1991. My dad's minivan was the default church taxi, and we had stopped to pick up RM and a couple of her babies to give them a ride. RM said to me, "My little sister is coming to stay with us for a few weeks this summer. I think you will be a good friend for her." Now, anyone who knows anything about me would say I am a cynic. It's true. I own it. So, my reaction to RM was a mild "Kermit face" with a slow, shrugging "ok." Apparently, I became too good a friend for her, because a few years later, RM worked with my father and Jerry Irwin to put a stop to that friendship, to ensure that "God's will" would be done--you know, each of us being forced into marrying abusive men.

Anyway, when RM and her teenage kids didn't show up for Sunday service or Wednesday school and cleaning for a couple weeks during end of January into early February, I asked Traci and Bitchanie if RM needed anything. She had health issues: a bad back and other things from time to time. I offered to run errands or drop off a meal. My offers went unanswered, literally. Pretty sure the only response I got from either Irwin was essentially "don't worry about it." Another few weeks passed, and I realized RM had left WLCC. I wasn't exactly surprised, but I was hurt that she didn't tell me. I thought we were close. Fast forward 6 months, and then my household left WLCC. Before we actually quit attending, I had reached out to RM via every means I could: email addresses, through blogs, social media, text message. On the first Sunday that we didn't attend WLCC (July 13, 2014), RM responded to my messages. She invited us to their new church, and the sisterly relationship reemerged. I felt a sense of relief at reconnecting with her.

Then Luke was murdered. LM fetched the cord out of the storage room and handed it to Luke's parents as a whip. Then Sarah got hold of it and turned it into a lethal weapon--like a cat-o'-nine-tails, the prongs digging and chopping and gouging our brothers' flesh. As the blood poured from Luke's groin staining his jeans a dark red, LM taunted that he wasn't such a big man, "look who peed his pants." But that of course was after a previous counseling session during which LM chanted at Luke, "You're gonna die! You're gonna die! You're gonna die!"

Judge Michael Dwyer sentenced LM and her son to 5 years in state prison, where they were housed in medium security facilities, since they were assessed as minimal threats. They were both released in Feb 2020--just before the world shut down.

RM is friends with LM. 

How? How can such betrayal happen? RM writes to Dad. Will she offer a "by the way, Bruce, I have re-friended that monster who found a way to kill your son"? 

Well, maybe LM changed. Maybe she truly parted ways with the Irwins and denounced her part in the gang assault and murder. Nope. If she had, she would have apologized and sought reconciliation with those whom she hurt the worst. And that hasn't happened. Instead, she finds a friend in RM. 

Apparently, RM is a homophobe, since she has blocked her sister (my wife) and me on Facebook. RM has long had an air of "my way or the highway." We have held lightly to a slim hope that one day we'll enjoy her friendship again, that one day she might accept that I am a very good friend for her little sister. But that was shattered when we learned of her friendship with LM. Apparently, being gay is worse than being an accomplice to murder.

Gonna see if I can get this dagger out of my heart. 

What do I tell Dad?