You strike a woman; you strike a rock – Zulu proverb.
It’s 7: 04 PM on day 77 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself All-Bran Flakes for breakfast, learn how to calculate Integrals with Substitution – I finally understand it and can now move on to the next chapter – YAY for me! 🙂 – peeled a banana – made a huge stain on my t-shirt – attempted to take off my stained t-shirt and put on a clean one – I got my head out but our housekeeper had to help me get my arms out of the sleeves and put on a clean t0shirt when the housekeeper was helping me change I thought to myself normal people can change in and out of their clothes without thinking twice about it this is so unfair – feed myself rice and curry for lunch and exercise for 10 minutes –I am SO tired {yawn}
I have never been an abused woman but every time my father pinned my mother against the wall and raised his hand to her I felt like someone had placed a hot iron on my heart and even though it doesn’t hurt anymore I still bear the scars of my tortured childhood and that’s why I am in full support of the 16 Days of Activisms Against Gender Violence Campaign. Have you ever been burned by someone that you loved?
Yes, yet I am not and never was a victim. There are many types of abuse including verbal, mental and physical most start verbal and then increase as the “victim” takes her/his role allowing the abuser to take their power. My theory, don’t give up your power. There are those out there who can help, the problem, catch 22, one must be strong enough to ask for help. Keep up the good work and thanks for speaking out!!
If my family read it they would freak out but I feel very strongly that abuse will only end if everyone feels safe enough to speak out and I will do EVERYTHING I can to create that an environment conducive to speaking out 🙂