In this five‑minute spoken commentary, Kathy Sudori shares her personal observations while editing Dr. John A. King’s book. She recounts sending her notes on September 15th, focusing on Chapter 5, “The Tale of Two Men,” and especially the “Mel’s Turn” passage that begins on page 196. Kathy describes shedding her first tear—not from the book’s pain but from the unconditional love expressed, and she explains how Mel’s section provides a pure, restorative pause amid the chapter’s harsh subjects. She reflects on her own professional boundaries as a therapist working with survivors, noting how Mel’s narrative allows her to lower those barriers and become emotionally infused in the text. Kathy praises Mel’s strength, love, and admiration for her husband, framing Mel as an essential anchor in Dr. King’s recovery and ongoing health. She expands the discussion to the concept of an “affirmative environment,” emphasizing that supportive people, not just external factors, are crucial for sustained well‑being. Additionally, Kathy references a passage on page 161 where Dr. King talks about seeing things with “new eyes,” linking it to the creativity skill “look at it another way,” one of E. Paul Torrance’s 18 creativity skills. She concludes by noting she will continue her observations.
Chapters
Hi, this is Kathy Sudori, and I wanted to continue my observations with Dr. King's book while I was editing it. And the day— the second day, which was September 15th, I sent to him and Mel some of my observations, and they were from page 155, which is chapter 5, The Tale of Two Men. And I write here, I shed my first tear today. Nothing prior to this. The tears came not from the pain of the book, but from the unconditional love freely given in response to the pain. I am so glad there is a Mel's Turn section in the book. It gives a much-needed pause infused with such purity between such tough subjects and the pain that was experienced. I am used to hearing about myriad of abuses against such beautiful souls and need to maintain a certain barrier in order to remain objective, to do— to facilitate my sessions. properly and to the best of my ability when I'm also working with survivors. Usually I hold up pretty well until I get to— and I did throughout his book up to this chapter— but then I got to Mel's turn in this particular chapter, and it's almost— and I noticed all of a sudden that it's almost like I hold my breath as I read through Dr. King's book. And then I like look forward to Mel's sections and her part. And I guess because I give myself permission to remove the boundaries that I normally set up, and I'm allowed— and I give myself the allowance to pause. I allow myself to be infused into the writings. So if you look at in her book, in this particular section of Chapter 5, her section, Mel's Turn, which begins on page 196. She says, she starts with, The Tale of Two Men is a tough read for me. And I paused right there and I wrote, it was a tough read for me too. What was tougher though was your section, knowing the strength, love, and downright admiration you have for your husband. It's very heartfelt. The strength you need is more than what Dr. King needs. He just needs to borrow yours and to know that you're his anchor. He'll continue to grow with that great gift. The gift of you is what holds and mends him together. I'm quite sure he has told you how much you and your strength, laughter, patience has meant to him. But know also that women like me are thankful for women like you. Please care greatly for yourself and do not lose yourself in his path. He needs your clarity always. And this is really where I start to understand the affirmative environment in his book and the importance of Mel within his life and his recovery process. Not only in his recovery process, but also in moving forward, sustaining himself in a healthy self. And she will— the affirmative environment is so important. It's not just externals, it can also be People. It's not just, you know, where you work or things like that. It's really who you surround yourself with as your affirmative environment. I go on to say, on page 161 of his book, he writes, I didn't want to see what was important to me before. I wanted to read the information with new eyes. Hopefully wiser eyes. And I'm continually inspired that he's taught himself how to creatively problem-solve. In applied creativity, we call this look at it another way, which is being able to see things from a different visual perspective, being able to see things from a different psychological percept— perspective or mindset. It's one of 18 creativity skills that we use, and they were developed by E. Paul Torrance from the Torrance Center in Georgia. So I just, I want to keep these kind of short. This is running probably close to 5 minutes, so that's it for, for today, but I'll continue with my observations. Thanks so much.
