I am less hateful about this than I am more frightened.
One of my younger cousins is displaying lack of empathy, and more traits of developed psychopathy.
I say "Psychopathy" rather than "Sociopathy" because the child's parents are good people, and I see very few errors in their teaching methods. But there's no denying that the environment has had a play in developing his traits. Of course, my brother and other parents around him inform the child's parents to "hit him for misbehaving" (because they are idiots) and being as much authoritarian as possible so as to cripple his will (again, because they are idiots), but that would only help progress the destructive attributes he already possesses.
I have tried in bringing stability into the child's character, and have succeeded in some ways, but I alone cannot eclipse what the environment stimulates in him.
If my beliefs are true, I will prevail in proving that sociopaths aren't exactly "monsters", but only individuals with a specific mental illness that can be cured for the betterment of society. This is going to put all my ability and knowledge and potential to test, and I may have to find professional help eventually.
That said, the child and I actually have an incredibly bonding like no other. He looks up to me as a role model, and this raises my self-expectations to help model the child into a better person.
