My mother started beating me when I was 4 years old; my father said he never noticed. When both of them in later years became ill and needed care, without hesitation I was here for them. My mother apologized for everything she’d ever done just 5 days before she died. I’m still caring for my father who is dying of Alzheimers; he can be abusive but at least he hasn’t tried to strangle me yet. So call me a dumb animal.
I prefer ‘child of God’.
Apples and oranges, but you did get to tell your story.