If you’re in the US, and planning on eating out tomorrow, how about eating at Chilis? They are donating 100% of their profits on Sept. 25th to Saint Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, one of the leading childhood cancer centers in the world.
Thanks to Kevin for the pointer.
Curt Rosengren posted today about making everyday a special occasion. He offered up this story by Ann Wells of the LA Times. It’s an attitude that, as hard as it is some days, is important to live by. None of us know how long we will be here, or how long our loved ones will…
Pin Still, nothing is stopping each of us from looking for and acting on these opportunities. They matter. Connecting with each other is better for everyone’s mental health and happiness. It can bring a tiny bit of joy into what otherwise might be a dull day.
Study finds dads’ drug use harmful to kids. Did we need to fund a study to figure this out? Isn’t it pretty common sense to say that if the father in a household is doing drugs it’s not going to be the best of environments for kids to grow up in? And why do we…
I cant say that I was really aware of this organization until I got an email from someone at CASA-Nashville yesterday. I did want to bring them to your attention though, if you live in the Nashville area: I work with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Nashville, Tennessee. We are a nonprofit organization that…
One of the survivor sites I try and follow when I have the time is Disproportionately Disillusioned. Yesterday, she official gave notice that she will not be updating that site, but will be merging the anonoymous site with her other, public site. As she says: This will be my final post on Disproportionately Disillusioned. In…
Pin What I want to address, however, is how our society defines victims and how it leaves far too many people behind. The article above is a great example. How many people, if asked about sex trafficking, picture little white girls or women abducted from Target? Probably a lot. For many, the only information they’ve ever gotten about trafficking are warnings about Target or shopping mall parking lots from their Facebook friends. They don’t know how many teenage boys from broken homes, living in poverty, are pulled into being trafficked. How many gay youths, rejected by their families, fall victim to it? How many immigrant children here, with no parental supervision, are sold off by the people who should be protecting them from sexual slavery?Â
Those stories, even if they’re told, are not going to grab national headlines. They are not going to evoke world-wide outrage and sympathy. Those are things that happen to “other people”. We might even be tempted to start looking for reason why it’s their own fault, or at least the parents fault, right?Â
From a media perspective, we also have to keep this in mind. An abduction of a young white girl from her home, is a rare event. It’s actually newsworthy because it happens so rarely. When it happens, it’s shocking. A trans, minority, teen being coerced into selling themselves, with no one to turn to for protection, isn’t any of those things. A gay male teen being kicked out of their parents house and trying to make it through homelessness, is also not something that happens so rarely that there would be major news coverage of it. These things happen all of the time. So often, that they aren’t really news.Â
So, which group should we have support and services for? I’d like to vote for ALL OF THEM. But that will take educating people about the reality of who gets abused, who gets trafficked, and for us all to accept that it happens everywhere. Until we get there, and are willing to see all different types of people as victims, we will continue to fail one group or another. That’s not acceptable.Â
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Hey there,
Couldn’t find the contact-me portion of this site, so I thought I’d just write this in as a comment.
In a nutshell — great site! I’m a survivor too, and things have been looking up steadily for the last several years. Like an upward graph, just better and better, with setbacks here and there.
Question for you: in order to sort of immunize myself from being an abusive person (you know that victims often become victimizers — scary but common statistic) what are the best steps?
I had been verbally abusive and nearly physically abusive to my ex-spouse and baby daughter, and even though everything is literally amazing right now with the two of them, I just want to keep taking steps to make sure I’m okay and they’re okay.
I don’t want to “fall asleep on the job” just to have the wrong set of circumstances set me off. What are some links to some preventative medicine against becoming an abuser.
I suppose just being part of a community of people who understand helps. People to talk with who will understand and stand by you. Know of anything like that?
Sorry this was so long. I applaud your site!!
Best,
Michael