Sometimes I think it is that way. And sometimes I think some people abuse not because they want us to feel worthless, but because they just want to feel better, or they just want to hurt less, or they are just so hurting themselves.
I don't say that as though any of it is an excuse. It isn't.
But I think sometimes hurt people hurt others because they actually just don't know a better or different way of doing things, or maybe they know they are supposed to do better, but their own brains are running on trauma and they just can't do it differently.
Not all the times, of course. Some people are just truly that awful.
But sometimes it isn't so much that people are awful, but that they themselves are terribly hurt.