be someone's voice!

https://fewwarnings.com/you-wanted-me-to-be-silent
 
I came across this article about abuse and it stopped me in my tracks. Just by looking at the pictures of this article I realized that it will have something important to say. Then I read the title and it made me even sadder. It’s called “You wanted me to be silent.” As I read through the article I became so sad because I connected with so many of them. 

Today we live in a society where everything is fast paced, things have to go our way, the way we want it and when we want it. We don’t have time for “drama” because we’re so focused on how we feel and could care less about anyone else’ feelings. Just being real here, these are observations I’ve made and of course not everyone is that way but most people are.

We teach children, men and women to speak up when they’re hurting or something was done to them. I feel like sometimes we speak just to hear ourselves speak. I do have a question for you today and please take a moment and reflect on it. My question is the following: Do you know how much courage a person has to have in order to open up to you and trust you? Have you ever stopped to think about this? When you go through abuse you know it’s shameful, hurtful, frowned upon, you blame yourself already and don’t need others to turn the blame on you too. When a person speaks up it’s because they’re at the edge and this is their way of crying out for help, or maybe just to be heard and believed.

But sadly many times pastors, teachers, co-workers, friends even family shut us down. Why? Because that Pastor has great standing in the community! Your teacher just doesn’t want to deal with this issue maybe because they don’t know how to handle it, or maybe because this opens a whole new can of worms, or maybe they too went through that and learned to look away. Co-workers have too much work to do and don’t have time for this type of stuff. Friends tend to not believe you because to them you’re just dramatic or maybe when you tell your friend about another friend you share in common they have a hard time believing that this person would do that to you. Our own families teach us to be quiet because what would people around us say!

When a person speaks up they’re shut down. I have a huge issue with this! The abused person starts to wonder if they’re the ones that caused this or just created a scenario in their own minds. The abused start to doubt themselves and get stuck in so many emotions. Some take their lives, others self medicate, others suffer and allow abuse to continue in their lives because some how they deserve it!

NO ONE DESERVES TO BE ABUSED I DON’T CARE WHETHER IT’S A MAN, A WOMAN OR KIDS…It’s not okay to tell them to speak up if all we want to do is shut them up! When someone comes to share something horrifying such as abuse, believe them because it took everything in their being to trust you and come to you. The person disclosing looks at you as their savior somehow. All they want from you is to reassure them that they’re being heard and their feelings are validated and they’re not crazy!
​
I leave you with this question! What are you doing to make a difference in a world with so much abuse and violence? I encourage you to be the voice of those that haven’t found theirs yet. Let them know they’re not alone in this fight and listen and believe when someone does come out trusting you.