[Lazarus knows a few people by now who have overcome; he feels that either he is himself uncommonly weak for being so scarred and damaged even now, or that others are not so whole as they claim. Both options feel equally bleak and likely.]

It's true. I guess that really isn't a secret, though I think it depends on the personality of the child.

[Nathan came from an abusive home, for example, and came out of it very differently. Lazarus can't imagine him being cruel to another child. He also reflects briefly on himself, but even years later with a lot of proof to back it up, he's still in a surprising amount of denial about his own upbringing and what it did to him.]

What do you think makes a person "straightened out?" A successful human being.