I had a great thought today.
I've been involved in volunteer or social change work since I was 14 years old and well over 20 years of my life. I've been doing work around feminist causes nearly as long. I've been doing Rape Crisis work for almost 20 years.
Only rarely, in those years, have I thrown up my hands and wondered if I were on a fool's errand. Most of the time I can see that for the bad that people endure, there is also good in the volunteers who climb out of bed to take on a mission of mercy. I like to think that I've seen the very best that humanity can offer to each other.
In the past year, my agency has been undergoing a shift in how we do prevention work. We are now attempting to take a very focused, deliberate, and systematic approach to addressing the root causes of sexual violence and creating change along the whole of the social spectrum. Big words, eh? We want to prevent people from perpetrating rape rather than continue to tell potential victims how to make the next person a more likely target.
This afternoon, I was in conversation with a new board member about her interest in our agency. She related a conversation she'd had with her boss about wanting to make the community a safer place for her daughter to grow up in. And it hit me . . . . her daughter is 3 now. And in HER LIFE TIME, we actually could see an end to the problem of rape as we know it. It is a very real possibility.
So, what's the opposite of throwing up your hands in hopelessness?
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Only good when people are watching
Powered by WebRing.
I work with Rape Victims in a small, southern community. Although I'm caught up in the local issues, I never lose sight of the fact sexual violence is a global issue.
About Me
- CrisisWorker
- I work with sexual abuse victims. I think that my years of this work has given me a deep thought or two. It is entirely possible I'm just a dork too.
The Pooch
Only good when people are watching
Places worth checking out
1 comment:
Well sir, I really in-joyed reading your post, especially when it was clicked on accidentally because i could not remember how to spell the word, "Epiphany."
Liked the picture of your dog as well, we have two wonderful rescue recovered Stafford-shires. We adopted both and they are spoiled! Yes, perhaps we will see an end to rape in our lifetime. I also do volunteer work with the American Red Cross, so I have seen a few battered women. In fact, my wife and I had one lady come and stay with us for two-weeks because her estranged husband was so prone to violence. The end of this story is real good, your going to like it.
Well, he found out somehow where she was staying the second week. (She probably called him,) he showed up at our address fortunately when I was at home, my wife is disabled and could not fend off any attack. He banged on my front door, ignoring the signs posted, "Danger, beware of Dogs!'
Then, he started yelling and really pounding, for about the next ten seconds. you see, I went down stairs and opened the garage door while he was carrying on, so he did not have a clue what had transpired. Next, all we heard was him screaming and begging someone to help him! My two beasts had tackled him, (he was no small fry, over six foot and 200 pounds,) but no match for my Male Bull, or my Red Nosed Rhodesian Ridgeback, small, only 125 pounds, but she is extremely aggressive when she is in protective domain mode. Look up her stats on the inter-net, they use them to coral lions in Africa!
His words to the police when they came and arrested him, "Oh thank you, those dogs really beat me up and I thought I was going to die."
Have a wonderful week!
Post a Comment