Elizabeth Smart Speaks Out (review in the Many Voices comments)

Sometimes I can't easily open a new blog post so end up using a Comment Section to add a new topic..not the best plan but at least I get the ideas down. This whole site is very much 'off the cuff' and reflects posts as I can get to them. I hope to revamp it and make it 'all neat and organized' with shorter paragraphs and such.

Til then, thanks for taking time to read a post or two and add a comment as you can. Elizabeth Smart's interview on www.npr.org in October 2013 on Fresh Air is a game-changer for breaking the silence about abuse of ANY kind.    

 Yet many cannot come forward due to ongoing difficulties of an abuser, their cohorts, even their loved ones and others not able to 'face the facts'. IF the person has reformed his or her ways, that's a gift to everyone involved. Abuse from long ago is still largely unaddressed, and yet hopefully, victims are safe and have found resources to piece their lives and souls (see work by Sandra Ingerman) together again. Abuse is NEVER the 'victim's fault'.Many myths need to be debunked to everyone's basic sense of decency and humanity.         

Too many around the world blame or kill the victim physically or socially or otherwise. 'Soul Murder' is a term James Gilligan and others use to describe the emotional and spiritual violence done to people. Yet many keep the torches of abuse burning by Not Believing or Caring about the victim's pain and need for healing and acceptance as well as support (which is not necessarily about bringing the violator to justice with arrests, law suits and such).

Once more victims understand the dynamic of someone wanting to have Power and Control over them, they can hopefully recast the forms of abuse in terms of that context, and not be hurt only because something was of a violent or sexual nature..that is the way the disease and crime of overpowering someone else manifested. An arsonist burns things, a thief steals and an abuser tries to diminish others...that's the 'nature of the beast' maybe stemming from  a deep inferiority complex or other imbalance. Plenty to think about on these lines, and I hope I listed the right article to help search for the reflections of Elizabeth's moving interview.