Tag: I

  • Here in Support Of…

    http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_111611_full_show.mp3/view

     

    The link above was given to me on Facebook by Carol Cline. Thanks so much Carol for sharing this with me.  I highly recommend you all taking the time to listen to the podcast.  If you can't get there from this link, go to thestory.org and look for Sheldon Kennedy's story, "Why I didn't Tell".

    What he speaks of is so right on, and that the perpetrator doesn't groom, control and manipulate, JUST the child, but all who come in contact with him.  He is the master manilpulator.  And the child senses that no one will believe him, for all believe the master manipulator, the community buys his 'coaching'….the parents trust him, etc.  All are under the spell of his lurid game.

    What else caught my attention is when he speaks of The Bystander, of those who know and say nothing…how we need to educate the bystanders.

    Getting others to believe is educating the bystander. To try and get them to hear that the stories Jim, Josh, Carl and I are writing about is US trying to educate you, the bystander.

    The Bystander who is standing by and believing in the tales and reputation HE is spinning.  

    I can honestly say, I get the web that is spun around all the folks as well as the children, it is thick and powerful and incredibly hard to penetrate.

    You all are living in the web of lies and deceit that is spun IN order for his nest of sexual abuse to continue on.  He has EVERYTHING to lose, so he spins and spins and spins….lies and a false life.

    While he has control of our heads, your beliefs, your faith and trust, he can operate underneath and in the dark molesting children.  The molested child sees you believing in his tale, and can feel like I, how we can't make you believe differently.

    Perhaps what needs to happen the most is for you to at least ask the questions, dare to face this monster and see his reaction.  Dare to be bold and questioning, dare to not just be a passive believer, ask for more proof.  Look around.  Dig deep into His life and accept for now, the child's word.

    Just as Josh and Jim stepped forth to educate you ByStanders, they are doing so knowing you all will most likely NOT believe them.  Most likely you will look instead at the intricate web that was spun to keep you from seeing beneath.

    A minister is a grand role to use as a cover.

    All stand in a bit of awe just in the presence of "a Minister".

    Behind the 'role' of minister is a man.  A man that two generations have come forth and said what he did to them.  

    Is that enough to break the spell, to tear the web?

    As a person standing by….what do you do?

    Will you help fill in the tear?  Will you be the one who works deligently to help 'repair' this rip in his reputation….and allow the abused adult child go on not being believed?

    What will it take….A third Generation?

    Just know that we all are trying to educate the ByStanders.

    We are here in support of the Victims.

    Who are you here in support of…

     

  • I have listened.

    I had a wise voice talk to me, reminding me of the lay of the land or the overview of us all talking on the blogs, and that there is room for everyone.

    Her message struck me as totally on target, and I could see how there are folks who are not ready to say their name, to be ‘out’ here like I am.

    That in order to talk to them, I may have to duck back in and speak in the dark, until they feel okay to meet with me ‘out’ here.

    I had used the term, “being in the closet” and it does sometimes feel that there are not only abused people hiding in there, too afraid to talk about their abuse, but it seems too that there are abusers hiding there as well.

    Meaning under the cloak of secrecy, and for different reasons, they are all hiding who they really are.

    What I failed to appreciate is that while I am trying to yank them out here to be with me, I need to meet them half way. 

    It is not helpful to be forceful.  Our tug-o-war was getting us nowhere.

    While I am yelling louder they are shrinking further back and that isn’t what I wanted this blog to be about.

    I do want it to be a place for all.

    My fear was speaking to the unknown. But you have reasons I can’t know.  And if I want to hear your side, I must allow you to be in the dark.

    The trick here is to speak from our side and not assume the others position.

    If we position each sentence or feeling with the word “I”.

    With you feeling safer in hiding and me feeling safe in full view, we can figure a way to work together. 

    I recall reading in a book about the caterpillar changing into a butterfly, if you force it to leave the cocoon too soon, its wings will be too wet to fly and it will die.

    We all fly in our own time.  I apologize for my loudness and empathic words and shouting about my journey…And me not realizing you will open the door on your journey in the right and perfect time for you.

    I have been told and I have listened…

     

     

  • I have listened.

    I had a wise voice talk to me, reminding me of the lay of the land or the overview of us all talking on the blogs, and that there is room for everyone.

    Her message struck me as totally on target, and I could see how there are folks who are not ready to say their name, to be ‘out’ here like I am.

    That in order to talk to them, I may have to duck back in and speak in the dark, until they feel okay to meet with me ‘out’ here.

    I had used the term, “being in the closet” and it does sometimes feel that there are not only abused people hiding in there, too afraid to talk about their abuse, but it seems too that there are abusers hiding there as well.

    Meaning under the cloak of secrecy, and for different reasons, they are all hiding who they really are.

    What I failed to appreciate is that while I am trying to yank them out here to be with me, I need to meet them half way. 

    It is not helpful to be forceful.  Our tug-o-war was getting us nowhere.

    While I am yelling louder they are shrinking further back and that isn’t what I wanted this blog to be about.

    I do want it to be a place for all.

    My fear was speaking to the unknown. But you have reasons I can’t know.  And if I want to hear your side, I must allow you to be in the dark.

    The trick here is to speak from our side and not assume the others position.

    If we position each sentence or feeling with the word “I”.

    With you feeling safer in hiding and me feeling safe in full view, we can figure a way to work together. 

    I recall reading in a book about the caterpillar changing into a butterfly, if you force it to leave the cocoon too soon, its wings will be too wet to fly and it will die.

    We all fly in our own time.  I apologize for my loudness and empathic words and shouting about my journey…And me not realizing you will open the door on your journey in the right and perfect time for you.

    I have been told and I have listened…

     

     

  • Without your truths.

    I sat with my old self yesterday and caught a glimpse of how I used to be, how if it weren’t for the truth exploding into our family, where I too would be caught.

     

    I saw her living in two worlds, locking up her truth before entering each side, so a part of her was always in the closet.

     

    And to me the part that gets locked away is the truth, for there will be a price to pay to let it out.  And the price is very large…huge in some cases, your whole family is on the line, if the truth slips out of the closet.

     

    She continues to walk into a church she no longer believes in, to keep her family believing she is there. And her family needs her to arrive so they too can pretend she is still the same girl.

     

    She knows if she doesn’t arrive, if she speaks her truth, her whole world will change.

     

    As I left her yesterday, a song was playing on the radio, and the words filled my jeep, “I am not ready to say good-bye…”

     

    In life we are often asked to pick between staying and not being truthful or leaving with the truth and all it curtails.

     

    When you are raised and believe in a religion that is based on pretending and false facts, and your whole world is comprised of this, you will lose your whole world.

     

    While greeting the truth, you have to say good-bye to your pretend family.  I say pretend, for you will know them by how they respond to your truth, until then, it is all pretend.

     

    In my family of origin, it was built primarily on false facts, the façade and truth hid in the closet.  All then acted, pretending there was no such storage for all the sins she blessed away.

     

    It wasn’t until one sin fell out that the rest came tumbling after and I was overrun with truth.

     

    I am not certain how the rest could just push it all back in and go on pretending, but they did and have.  Their capacity for hiding is much larger than mine. 

     

    While it may seem that they have once again locked the door, I believe that we all get to face our truths some day.

     

    I can’ t know when, nor can I force you to open your door and let them out, to live with them in harmony.

     

    Our truths don’t disappear, just because we fail to look upon them, instead what happens is you live a life without them, a pretend life.

     

    You get to have a pretend father and mother.

    You can have pretend sisters and brothers.

    You then get pretend security of being surrounded by folks who care.

     

    As I found out, if you open your closet of truth, your pretend family disappears.

     

    Most are not willing to say good-bye to pretend…while I thought they did not want to face the truth.  It isn’t the truth they fear, but the façade of pretend. They truly don’t want to know it is made of up fakeness.

     

    It is better to live in the comfort of fakeness than to live alone with your truth.

    Yet who are you without your truths?

     Smug mug pics 602

    “Every exit is an entrance somewhere else. “

    ~Tom Stoppard