No. No one is innocent. But Steven escalates a thoughtless moment into deliberate cruelty every time. That was how he’d learned to respond to hurt: Accidentally bump into my emotions and I will punch you as hard as I can. It makes his pain go away, maybe. At the very least, he can feel as if he’s won the interaction, and, boy, does he like winning. He needs to feel powerful to feel safe. Hey, I can understand that but I can’t sympathize. That’s not an emotion I can tap into.
