Conflicts between parents and children can be especially harmful when they occur at
             an early age. They open up emotional wounds that aren't easy to heal and determine
             what kind of a person you are bound to be. People are faced with many conflicts
             throughout their lives, some are worse than others. How they chose to deal with them
             plays a great impact on their future. In The Color of Water, Ruth McBride was faced
             with both physical and mental abuse from her father. She escaped it by running away
             Ruth's father was a religious man, a rabbi. He preached at the synagogue and taught
             the Bible in school. Behind closed doors, he was a violent and cruel man who broke
             the law of God and violated his own daughter. Ruth said, "My father did things to me
             when I was a young girl that I couldn't tell anyone about. Such as getting in bed with me
             at night and doing things to me sexually." Any time her father had a chance he would
             Ruth felt afraid and betrayed, but she had no one to turn to. Ruth said, "I dreaded him
             and I was relieved anytime he left the house." She had no love for her father at all. What
             was happening to her felt like a nightmare. She couldn't tell anyone about the abuse that
             was going on. Her father was a rabbi, and people put faith in religious figures; no one
             would listen to her cries for help. Therefore, Ruth was forced to keep the anger and hurt
             What he did to her affected her in a lot of ways. Growing up Ruth had a very low self-
             esteem which haunted her for many years. She didn't want to be around anyone who
             tried to push her around, because it made her nervous. Fears of being trapped by
             her father made her claustrophobic. She "I can't stand feeling stuck or trapped in a place"
             ...