Feburary 8

Eight years ago today our family suffered the unimagineable. I'll not go into details because its something to painful and personal. My cousin had left her abusive husband, finally. In his demented mind he decided to take away the people she loved the most. He shot her mom, her baby, and himself. Her mom, my aunt, survived, but that precious baby never saw his first birthday. He was so sweet, so happy, and so smart, but his life was taken just four days before he would have turned one. Words could not express what our family went through. I wish I could say it was the first tragic experience with domestic violence our family had seen, but it wasn't. Just six months before that my own sister went through a terrible experience of her own. The ending there was better, but the uncertainty and fear was drawn out longer. Unfortunately, it hasn't been the last time I've had to watch a family member be abused. I've watched over and over as my brother-in-law chooses to stay in an abusive relationship, endangering himself and his beautiful, helpless children. Yes, even men can be abused. My attitude about this may be different than others, but it makes me so angry. I have been in public and seen men hurting women before. (usually when Shelly is with me...don't know why that sort of thing happens.) How many people walk by and never try to stop it. It doesn't cause me fear, just extreme anger. There is no reason to fear these people, if your not the object of their abuse. You don't even have to get overly confrontational. Just pull out your cell phone, call 911, tell them what you are seeing, get a good description of the person, and let the police take it from there. If they try to leave, write down thier liscense plate number so you can give it to the police. Please, DON'T WALK BY WITHOUT TRYING TO DO YOUR PART....what if it was your family member? I hadn't inteneded to blog about this, but as I pulled up msn this morning and scanned the news headlines there it was. Ouater of US Women Suffer Domestic Violence. Educate yourself on this issue. If one in four women are affected, chances are someone you know and love could be in need of your help. If you are in a dangerous situation, get help. Don't wait until your family or kids are in danger. Do it now! Don't be too proud to go to a Women's Shelter...maybe its not the nicest facilities in the world, but its worth it to get away safely. You can have and do better, no matter what you've been told!