Mark Richard Clements

Tall Trees: a Story of Triumph Mark Richard Clements

Thomas Paul Stanton was born blessed with a strong personal character, exceptional good looks and, at first glance, appeared to be the all American dream boy. Born in 1960, at the end of the baby boom, he was raised in a socially revolutionary era of American history. It was the dawning of the age of enlightenment, the sexual revolution, and the fight for individual rights. Isolated by the obscurity of the burgeoning middle class sprawl, Thomas Paul finds himself standing alone to face unrelenting adversity. With no education, no knowledge of a family life beyond his own, and nowhere to turn, he endures the neglect of his physically and mentally ill mother, the tyranny of his menacing father, and finally, just as he begins to find new hope, the ultimate abuse and betrayal by a trusted priest. This is a story about a family, from which hidden pathologies emerged, over time, to form and mold their children into adults and set their moral compasses. It is about parents, and how the environments they create shape us as people of the world. The writers delve into the heart and mind of Thomas Paul as he, with hope, courage, and deep spiritual convictions, struggles to learn the true meaning of love, forgiveness, and the value in living.