I don't pretend to know everything. I don't think I am stupid either, but I admit upfront that there is a lot I don't know. But there are some things I feel pretty confident about, and I have a good eye for noticing when people are self-destructing.
I'm sure most of us have seen it, more than a few have been there ourselves, and we know the pain.
Impotent.
That is how I feel. Completely unable to do anything about it. I don't even know if we can say our teaching goes in one ear and out the other, because it would actually have to get to the ear first. Counseling, loving, teaching, and plenty of loving discipline have been our tools. But the course is set, the blinders are on, and self-destruction is imminent. My daughters, now becoming old enough to know something very wrong is going on, stand by with tears in their eyes, watching and feeling just as impotent, in their own 2 and 6 year old way, as my wife and I.
I just can't help but think that the crashing and burning is inevitable. Sometimes it takes a disaster to open one's eyes. I just hope one disaster is all it will take.