Child Abuse

Child abuse and neglect is a growing problem in the United States and throughout the world. Children are dying at the hands of their parents, the very people who are supposed to protect them. There are people who abuse their children so often that the abuse becomes a normal part of life for the child, and when that happens it's harder for the child to seek help if they are even old enough to do so.

There are people who turn a blind eye to child abuse out of convenience and possibly even fear. There are neighbors that could get help for children that just don't want to get involved. There are family members that don't want to break up the family. There are teachers that don't have the support they need to seek help. There are so many reasons that people turn their backs on those that can not stand up for themselves, but there are no valid reasons to do so. It angers me more than I care to say when I hear someone dare to utter the words, "I just don't want to get involved". How can anyone's comfort be put above the safety of a child?

As a survivor of an abusive step dad, the subject of child abuse hits close to home. My mom's second husband was a monster, but the abuse happened so often that it was just a "normal" part of life. My mom was married to this monster for 8 years of my childhood. The first time I witnessed his wrath was when I was 4, maybe 5 years old. I don't know what my younger sister did, but as punishment she was made to run around a coffee table and each time she went by my step dad on the couch he'd hit her with a fly swatter. I don't know how long it went on, I was helpless, and I had to watch, and that was the beginning of the abuse he inflicted on our family. This was before my mom married him and I often wondered why she'd married him. I had just assumed she'd seen the bruises.

Recently I found out my Mama didn't know. I didn't tell because that monster told me he'd kill my sister if I did, and after witnessing that I believed him. I recently found out that he kept my sister quiet by telling her he'd kill our Mama. He used love to control and abuse us, and we had no way out. If only a neighbor had heard, or seen the bruises... They divorced when I was around 12 years old, maybe 13.

Often the hardest subjects to write about are the most important ones, but it takes a special person to be able to do it. It takes a person with compassion, strength, and above all else love. It means being able to put extreme feelings into words so that they accurately convey the message you are trying to send. It means allowing yourself to feel so that whomever reads what you have written may feel the emotions that prompted you to write. Skiesgreen has done just that with her lens Child Abuse. "Child Abuse" puts the act of child abuse in your face, so to speak. There are pictures, there are videos, there are sad stories of children who didn't get the help they needed. The silent victims of abuse are all to often children, and skiesgreen decided to speak for those tiny, innocent, silent victims. The comment I left on her lens when I first read her lens says it all. "There's not much I can type at this moment through tears. This is a horrible topic, but you have presented it very well. This lens made me go hug my two year old." This is a lens that will make you go hug your children. It is horrifying. It is disturbing. It is a reality for many children. I just hope it gives people the strength to speak up, the strength to save a life.

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Image Credit: Child Abuse Handprint by fightcancertees