October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Author and good guy John Shore has a piece entitled "7 Reasons Women Say In Abusive Relationships", and he has asked that we make it more widely available via links on FB, our own sites, etc.
I am more than happy to do so. A few years back, I started researching the possibility of starting a rescue shelter for women trying to leave abusive relationships. In the course of checking out the need for such a facility, I discovered that in rural Boone County, IL, there was exactly one such facility and organization. There were thousands of reported cases of domestic violence, and exactly one place these women could turn to in order to help themselves.
We will never do enough to help completely, sad to say. At the very least, however, getting information to women trapped in this way can be a first step. Like alcoholism, domestic violence is one of those things that touches the lives of so many more people than we are willing to admit. Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the phenomenon is, like alcoholism, getting people out from this kind of self-destructive hell is impossible from the outside. The first step always has to come from the individual who has reached rock bottom (usually in a hospital bed with bandages or a cast). If someone gets help because I passed on these marvelous straight-forward words, then I figure I've done more than my share.
So . . . LINK! Remember, the life you save may not just be your own, but yours, your kids, your grandkids, and all sorts of other people.
Virtual Tin Cup
