9/27/07

Bloggers Unite To Stop Abuse


Aeschylus

"And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God."

I 've teamed up with a group of bloggers on blog catalog today who are blogging to stop abuse.

Everyday we read the horrifying details of some form of abuse in the newspaper. Whether the article is about the victim or the perpetrator it's origin is always the same, the plot always familiar, and the results life altering. By blogging together in an effort to stop abuse, we're in fact saying no more abuse, no way, not on our watch!


It's horrifying to read that some 40 million children are subject to abuse this year alone, and that many of that number, will never speak of it. Their perpetrators will move on and the world will keep turning in much the same way, except in the eyes of the child involved. For them, their nightmarish existence will continue somewhere in the back of their mind, for the rest of their lives. The victim of abuse retreats into a secret silent world of introspection, often developing an inappropriate inner dialogue of distorted ideas about themselves and the world around them.


Anyone whose experienced abuse has endured an unbreathable pain, that most of us can't begin to understand.
The child abuse victims today are our future tomorrow, and will join a society of bankers, lawyers, doctors, mothers, fathers, etc...

The heartbreaking number of combined abuse statistics has the semblance of a battleground lost to a powerful enemy. That is to say, the combined statistics are emotionally disturbing, to overwhelming a concept to comprehend. Nevertheless, if we work together educating ourselves and others on what we can do as a society to prevent abuse, then we have the framework for a battle won.

When I think of the wasted years and lives of just the few people I know who have suffered from abuse it's horrifying. We must be careful not desensitize ourselves or worse yet, develop an attitude of indifference to the way we think about abuse.

Indifference, to me, is the most intolerable of emotions, the likes of which will rear its ugly head and devour us if we're not careful. What I mean is, what we're indifferent about will often come back to haunt us in the most poetic sense of the word.

When we see signs of abuse or something wrong, we must trust our instincts and do something about what we're feeling or thinking. When we accept a more popular view rather than follow our own instincts, we lose the capacity to be honest with ourselves and others. This attitude breeds tolerance for certain behaviors that at one time, we might have deemed unacceptable.

Here is the link to a post I wrote on an incident I witnessed involving child abuse. I feel I was guilty of the very thing I'm protesting here.

Because, the event happened in a public area, I questioned my ability to judge whether it was considered abuse. Then to my astonishment I saw there wasn't anyone else reacting either to a three year old child being slapped across the face! (Not even the security guard in the waiting area.)

In addition, others in the waiting room, including the perpetrator, looked at me as if they wished to say, " Mind your own business." I felt like saying, "Forgive me, but your child is screaming and you're more worried about me staring at you!"

Well there you have it, my contribution to and public support of a social community obviously dedicated to the "power of the pen." A virtue I admire and am honored to have been a part.

Please feel free to check out the link to my post "Spanking Where Do You Draw The Line?" and please understand this post is not against parents spanking their children. What the post is meant to suggest is the lack of this Mother's ability to draw the line, between what is spanking and what is abuse.

7 comments:

Momgen said...

Hello Ann good job in your post its pretty good.

Christy said...

Hi Ann,

Wow, that was excellent. Really good.

I wonder if Canadians differ in the way they look at abuse. I've seen mother's who whack there kids in stores but as soon as a child starts crying you are going to have twenty adults staring the mother or father down to see what's going on.

It's not so much that someone says something out loud but the staring of onlookers is enough to stop the mother. (at least for the moment).

I wish all parents would read Dr.Phil's book Family Matters. I'm reading it right now and it's an awesome tool for parents.

Hope you have a great night Robin!

aniceplaceinthesun.blogspot.com said...

Thank you Christy. Laughing. Canadians are different and it sounds great! I have another close friend that I grew up with that is from Nova Scotia, but lived in the States during her High School years. She has since moved back to Canada. I can see her staring this lady down in a heartbeat! Sometimes I'm so passive, I make myself want to puke! I will spend the rest of my days regretting that day in the E.R.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great night too!

Ann/Robin

mr fong said...

YOur posting skills are second to none. Tremendous. Loved that part about the kid-slapping, and how you weaved through that like a pro (oh wait, aren't you a pro?!)...

Would there be a Friday's game today? I can't wait........

aniceplaceinthesun.blogspot.com said...

Winston, You are too funny! You know, I'm impressed with your talents! Thank you Winston. To answer your question, today is "What's happening in the picture day!" LOL! You know me well don't you? :)

Are you going to come and play? Have a great night!

Ann

Marja said...

Excellent post. In New Zealand child abuse is reaching an all time hight and they just don't do enough about it. The whole child sector is underfunded. How can I join?

70-643 said...

You are exactly right.It's fact that this world have a very bad history of abuses with children,women and lower and week classes people.I think it should end now.So be polite for week and be harsh for abusers.

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