Silence Fuels Violence

The consumption of fuel in various forms is what propels every aspect of our world.
The small fragile looking hummingbird consumes up to 50% of their small body weight
in sugar each day in order to keep going.  When they begin their migration they need
to gain an additional 25 - 40% of their body weight to survive on their long journey.
(World of Hummingbirds.com)  A Boeing 747 uses 4 liters (1 gallon) of fuel every
second!  Over the course of a 10 hour flight, this aircraft will burn 150,000 liters of
fuel (that's 36,000 gallons!)  (How Stuff Works) 

The earths jet stream, with its speeds of upwards to 275 miles an hour, is what transports
the weather systems across the globe.  These narrow bands of fast moving winds are
what fuels the weather patterns of the world.  (The Weather Network)  Even our own
bodies ability to run, ski, walk and move, hinges on the ability of the body to extract
energy from the foods we ingest.  The carbs, fat and proteins in what we eat are the
fuel sources for our bodies.

So, here's a question for you...what fuels domestic violence?  It is silence!  The more
the shroud of silence hangs over domestic violence, the more it will thrive...and grow!
There is nothing an abuser loves more than the silence that covers what his twisted and
perverted mind likes to do. Keeping this silence is something that just seems to be seared
into the minds of the abused.  There was absolutely no way on earth that I wanted any
one to know what kind of living hell I was enduring!  There was a sense of horror
connected to the thought of anyone finding out.  I also think, in my case at least, that
with the possibility of anyone knowing, the pretense of a happy normal family that I
had fabricated for all to see would burst like a bubble.  My sanity was intertwined with
the very fabric of that self-made bubble.  I needed that bubble to stay intact for survival,
or so I thought at the time! 

Why is it so hard to break this silence?  Let's take a look first at the victim that is being
smothered in the silence.  Picture someone that is trapped under the ice.  They are
struggling to free themselves;  they claw at the ice over their heads in a frantic effort
to find even the smallest of holes in which to be able to gasp a life saving breath.  They
are incapable of making any noise, for they are submerged in the swirling sea of abuse
that leaves them with barely enough energy to keep on fighting. 

 

So being incapable of making any noise for themselves, what they are so desperately in
need of is someone to come along that has a voice, that has the strength to break through
the ice, and give them the freedom they are so in need of!  This is the power behind
breaking the silence.  When the silence, in which they are drowning in is broken, they can
begin to find the strength to survive.  They can finally take that breath that their body has
been craving, find their voice and begin to speak for themselves! 

We all need to take an active roll in speaking out against domestic violence.  Through

promoting domestic violence awareness, we are keeping this important issue in the public
eye.  We need to arm ourselves with the axe of truth and begin smashing the ice of abuse
that has its victims trapped;  we need to smash all the preconceived falsehoods about 
abuse that are out there.  We need to smash to pieces the control and power that are
wielded by the abusers.  Stop fueling violence with silence.  Pick up your axe, find your
voice and begin to make a difference!