There are many reasons why we must speak out against abuse.
Silence. If I said nothing else, we all know the word silence has been used by generations to inflict power, subjugation, pain, submission, and tears. It has seared through the darkest recesses of our minds, where our deepest secrets lie, the ones we have dragged through the muck and mire of adulthood and have labeled them names of rejection, unworthiness, and unloved.
Why do we continue to lick our tattered wounds, and guard them like an injured pet, whose eyes are begging for sympathy? Continually, we surround ourselves with family, relationships, and bosses who perpetuate the same interpersonal relationship dynamics, feeding the same wound that causes so much pain. We do this because this has become our comfort zone. It is when we learn new tools through counseling, self-help, support groups, God, books, therapy, music, healthy boundaries in our new jobs, and our new relationships, that we will grow and develop the skills we need.
We must become a complete us, before uniting to compliment someone else. For future generations, at some point, we must take it upon ourselves, to seek the help we need to heal, to not repeat another multi-generational epidemic of sexual assault on women, young boys, and young girls. Victims were chosen by their perpetrators, but now they have a lot of emotional damage to overcome. Learning why we must speak out against abuse will help everyone in the world.
So, how did the sexual assault of children become such an acceptable occurrence for a thriving and progressive culture, which thrives on its deep-rooted traditions and legacies? Generations of families before us knew sexual assault was a taboo subject. It wasn’t reported because it was a family matter. Children did not feel they had anyone to report to or anywhere to go. Rape and incest have thrived and flourished through bloodlines for as long as children have been born from one year to the next. I know my abuser told me that he would kill me, my mother, and the rest of my family if I told and I knew he was very capable. I was eleven. I also knew it ran in the family. My mother seemed to favor the attention of men, more than that of her children. I, like many children before me, had nowhere to turn and no one to tell.
We see today’s generation of women, from the Olympic gymnasts and swimmers to actors and actresses standing in courage, speaking, their truth, boldly, courageously, and sharing their pain. The pain shared by a multitude of women, boys, and girls who proceeded them who had no voice. The voices of thousands of generations, who struggle to have a voice today! We are the voice for those whose pain was so great they could no longer endure. Who waited so long for someone to help them, to listen to them, to believe them. We are the rallying cry behind their unheard voices; raising our voices in unison for them, crying “NO MORE SILENCE!”
We make a stand together as a society for the draconian era thinking to be gone! We will all have to change and it will not be easy. It will not be pleasant. It is vitally necessary for all to survive or we will be inundated through the courts and criminal system with lawsuits and prison, for those who continue to commit crimes against women, young boys, and young girls.
We can get involved with our local sexual assault and human trafficking advocacy, and mentoring groups. We need to change the laws, CPS, criminal justice system, mental health systems, to provide the quality resources survivors of sexual assault and trauma deserve. Today, we stand as the old generation and new generation united! We stand fighting the Last Great Frontier known as “Sexual Assault”! We will stand for Silence No More! Together we can make our children’s future a great place to live! TOGETHER WE STAND!