Editorial published today, on child abuse
Two weeks ago a 4 year old girl was murdered in my home town. She was tied up, gagged and beaten then left to die in a locked room, by her step-mother and with her fathers knowledge. Over the last 3 years, the authorities had received 44 complaints about this couples treatment of the children under their care and no action was ever taken because of lack of evidence. As an editorial writer for the local news paper, the following was my comment on the failure of our local Child Protective Services and Sheriffs Dept.
It is a pretty intense editorial and I feel like I kind of left myself hanging out in the public wind, but as I am sure you can understand, the situation really struck me deeply.
***As a child I was sometimes bound, gagged and locked in a closet. I was fed soap to wash my mouth out for lies I never told. I suffered years of sexual abuse, and more years of verbal abuse. If anyone ever saw or understood what was happening, they never spoke out in my defense.
At the age of 50, I still suffer the vile consequences of my unhappy youth. There are issues of trust and confusions of responsibility that I may never overcome. And the social order continues to punish me for the failures that have been violently forced upon me.
Why do I admit this in a public forum? Because Aiyana Gauvin, a 4-year-old Lafayette girl murdered two weeks ago, is dead all too soon, and I have lived too long in the shadow of undisclosed abuse. I don't mean to seem uncaring, but Aiyana got out easy. Such abuses as she suffered leave a lifetime of hardship and pain, and are then often passed on to future generations.
What will you do to change this awful thing? It is too late to save Aiyana or myself. While our courts debate whether or not convicted child molesters should be allowed to haunt our parks, children suffer and die or grow old in isolated misery. Your politics and self-serving philosophies are meaningless. While you are marching in support of saving the whales, children are being tortured, murdered or even worse, left with failed lives of social stigma that they did not -- could not -- choose for themselves.
Never mind. This has been a waste of words. You refused to save Aiyana. Just go save your whales. They are the ones who deserve your attention. Spend your efforts on influencing the state legislature to change the state flower. Do something really important, like banning gay marriage. Leave the children to fend for themselves.
Had you done your human duty, Aiyana might have grown into a fine servant of a beneficent society. I might have contributed more than my utter disdain. But you were busy writing speeding tickets and debating the value of snail darters.
The abuse will not stop until it is acknowledged. Let those who have suffered speak up! Society makes it our shame. Society is wrong. It is their shame. Expose them for what they are. There are abusers at every level of the system. Root them out. Those who ignore abuse are as guilty as those who commit abuse. Raise up your voice and insist with the whole of your being that this evil stop.
Start by closing down the murder mills. A society that condones the butchery of babies will tolerate any abuse of children. Good, wise and kind people do not allow the crushing of a child's head while it is being ripped from the womb. Tie its hands, tape its mouth shut, lock it in a closet, kick it, beat it, rape it, throw it in a Dumpster and forget it. If you are very inept in your murderous intent, 50 years from now you will have someone like me to point a finger and say it is time to stop.
Help me. Help your own children. Don't ignore the signs of abuse and do not allow the authorities to overlook the need for intervention. Speak up. Now!***
Aden
It is a pretty intense editorial and I feel like I kind of left myself hanging out in the public wind, but as I am sure you can understand, the situation really struck me deeply.
***As a child I was sometimes bound, gagged and locked in a closet. I was fed soap to wash my mouth out for lies I never told. I suffered years of sexual abuse, and more years of verbal abuse. If anyone ever saw or understood what was happening, they never spoke out in my defense.
At the age of 50, I still suffer the vile consequences of my unhappy youth. There are issues of trust and confusions of responsibility that I may never overcome. And the social order continues to punish me for the failures that have been violently forced upon me.
Why do I admit this in a public forum? Because Aiyana Gauvin, a 4-year-old Lafayette girl murdered two weeks ago, is dead all too soon, and I have lived too long in the shadow of undisclosed abuse. I don't mean to seem uncaring, but Aiyana got out easy. Such abuses as she suffered leave a lifetime of hardship and pain, and are then often passed on to future generations.
What will you do to change this awful thing? It is too late to save Aiyana or myself. While our courts debate whether or not convicted child molesters should be allowed to haunt our parks, children suffer and die or grow old in isolated misery. Your politics and self-serving philosophies are meaningless. While you are marching in support of saving the whales, children are being tortured, murdered or even worse, left with failed lives of social stigma that they did not -- could not -- choose for themselves.
Never mind. This has been a waste of words. You refused to save Aiyana. Just go save your whales. They are the ones who deserve your attention. Spend your efforts on influencing the state legislature to change the state flower. Do something really important, like banning gay marriage. Leave the children to fend for themselves.
Had you done your human duty, Aiyana might have grown into a fine servant of a beneficent society. I might have contributed more than my utter disdain. But you were busy writing speeding tickets and debating the value of snail darters.
The abuse will not stop until it is acknowledged. Let those who have suffered speak up! Society makes it our shame. Society is wrong. It is their shame. Expose them for what they are. There are abusers at every level of the system. Root them out. Those who ignore abuse are as guilty as those who commit abuse. Raise up your voice and insist with the whole of your being that this evil stop.
Start by closing down the murder mills. A society that condones the butchery of babies will tolerate any abuse of children. Good, wise and kind people do not allow the crushing of a child's head while it is being ripped from the womb. Tie its hands, tape its mouth shut, lock it in a closet, kick it, beat it, rape it, throw it in a Dumpster and forget it. If you are very inept in your murderous intent, 50 years from now you will have someone like me to point a finger and say it is time to stop.
Help me. Help your own children. Don't ignore the signs of abuse and do not allow the authorities to overlook the need for intervention. Speak up. Now!***
Aden