I See — A Poem and Story About Breaking The Cycle Of Child Abuse
My contribution to National Child Abuse Prevention Month — What’s your story?
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. As a child abuse survivor, it is a subject near and dear to me.
The poem I’m sharing today is a revision from Break The Cycle Volume II. I published these anthologies to help support child abuse awareness and prevention programs like Prevent Child Abuse America and First Light Child Advocacy Center.
Often with child abuse, adults refuse to see the abuse or believe the child. In my own experience, I told several adults over the ten-year span that traumatized my childhood.
I have RESPECT for Mia Farrow for believing her child and fighting for justice, regardless of her personal sacrifices.
My pleas were dismissed, even after the authorities got involved.
I got locked up in a juvenile detention center, had to tell my story repeatedly to strangers, and take a lie-detector test. Meanwhile, the perpetrator was free to continue his abusive ways. It caused trust issues that I still deal with nearly a half-century later.
The first time, and only time so far, I was selected for jury duty was a child abuse case.
The courtroom was filled with prospective jurors who were brought forward a dozen at a time for questioning. The attorney asked, “If it was your son on trial, could you be impartial?”
I wish they would have asked that question and let us raise our hand if yes, then selected from that group. But, we had to answer the question individually.
When the attorney got to me, I said I was not a good candidate for his client because, “As I child abuse survivor who no one believed from age 5 to 15, I always believe the child.” I don’t care if it was my son, your son, or the son of God on trial, I would believe the child.
Always believe the child.
I See
How can you stop what you refuse to see?
See me. Believe me. Free me.
Truth is not whatever you want it to be.
It is our destiny.
