When We Put You Here

When we put you here
They didn't have names
The way they do now

Asperger's
Down syndrome
Austism
High-functioning autism
High-functioning--anything, really

None of that
They didn't have any of it
It was just...

You were just...

In need of care
Or you weren't

Healthy, I mean, you were--

That

Or, you weren't

And you weren't healthy
You never were
It wasn't your fault, of course
You were born early
But nevertheless, you had...trouble

And so we brought you here
And they told us
That you had to be kept here
That it's what was best for you
And so we...

You didn't challenge doctors back then

The way they challenge doctors now

If a doctor told you
Your child was sick
You brought her to a hospital
And you left here there
Until she got better

And if she didn't get better then...

Then you just wanted her to be comfortable
And that's what they said they were doing for you
They told us they were making you comfortable
All these years
Or else why would we have--

Charlotte Temple, from down the street?

Her daughter was born...early, the way you were
And so were her other two

And she kept all her daughters at home
And took care of them
And--

When I told her about bringing you here
She said--

With all this judgment in her voice, she said--

I would never just leave my daughter somewhere like that

Like what?  --I said
But I didn't say
I wanted to, but, you know

I'm polite, so...

I didn't say--Charlotte, you're being unfair to your daughters

And, you know, to yourself
To herself, I mean

To give up her whole life
Trying to help people
Who can never be helped

I mean, I know I'm talking about her children here
But, still, the point is--

She couldn't do anything for them

Just like we could do anything for you

That's why we put you here
Because it seemed...

It was the right thing to do

For you

For all of us

Maybe now it doesn't seem that way
Maybe, in hindsight, it seems cruel
But--

That doctor seemed fine
He didn't seem like the type who would--

Who would do anything to--

What were we supposed to do?

Try raising a retarded child by ourself?

With no help?

I know you probably think
We have all the money in the world
But it can be costly

In more ways than one

Putting you here was the right decision for that time

Maybe it wouldn't be the right decision today
But...

But that's today

Today everything's different

That's the frustrating thing about today

Today everybody judges you
For what you did yesterday

Today the Charlotte Temple's of the world are saints
And people like your father and I are monsters

Today we're wrong
Yesterday we're right

It's all so...

When we put you here
All anybody did
Was tell us
What a good decision we'd made

Now when people find out
They won't even look at us

You won't even look at me

Your own mother, and you won't...

Has any of this made you better?

Any of it?

I need to know if...

It would be nice to know that...

I'm...

Your father and I want you to know
That, if you like
We can set you up
Somewhere

Somewhere nice

Obviously we don't expect you to stay here
After what's been happening all these years
So if you'd like--

Maybe not an apartment
Maybe another hospital
Not like this one
There are nicer ones now
They make them nicer, you know

We'd offer to have you come stay at the house, but--

We've become set in our ways
And I'm just not sure...

But we'll help

We'll help in whatever way we can

We've always wanted to help, you know

That's always been the first thing
On our minds