Please Sign the Child Rescue Petition *possibly triggering, be forewarned*

My brave, beautiful inside and out friend idiomagic posted the following. Boost the signal, folks.

Originally posted by idiomagic at Please Sign the Child Rescue Petition

Most of you know that I was physically, emotionally, and sexually abused by my adoptive family for nearly thirteen years during my childhood. From comments and conversations, it's become clear that many of you reading this were also abused. Those of you who haven't, and who think I am the exception: ask your friends list. Create an anonymous poll. You will be shocked and horrified by the extent of child abuse, in all its forms. By the sheer number of us who have survived it and continued on.

There have been many, many solutions suggested by the media and concerned individuals to the problem of child abuse. Too many people sit by and apathetically decide there is nothing they can do. I understand that feeling, the feeling of helplessness in the face of such a widespread and monumental problem.

People don't want to know the details. They don't want to have to imagine it. They want to disbelieve or minimalize the extent of the damage done.

I've lost friends because I told them too much. I don't know if they despised me for being a "victim" or for bringing the issue into sharp focus for them. I have seen too much pity and too much disgust in the eyes of those I have told.

I am forever damaged. I function. I survive. I'm still here. But I will always be broken, fragmented. There is no forgetting this, or moving past it. There is no recovery, no healing. No matter how well we cope, no matter how well we compensate, there's not one of us who survived entirely intact.

This is not a matter for pity. Don't tell us that we can be whole again. If you are lucky enough not to be one of the Children of the Secret, you can never truly know or understand. I ask you only this: listen. Listen to our stories. Don't judge us, don't offer us platitudes or advice. Just listen.

Then, if you have listened and understood, speak out. Add your voices to ours in speaking for those who can't save themselves.

Here's what you can do.

Go to http://www.protect.org or http://vachss.com/help_text/index.html and do the research for yourself. Get involved with the legislation that is being proposed to protect children in the future. If you can afford it, make a donation. If you can't, take the time to write your congress creatures. Educate yourself, and spread that education to anyone who will listen.

If nothing else, please please go sign this petition. Get involved. Speak out. As a human being, you can't afford not to.

Sign the Child Rescue Petition

I thought long and hard about friends locking this post. But it is too important for that. Too many children are living the same nightmare that I did. Too many of them will be silenced forever by their abusers. My story is just one thread in an enormous tapestry of horror and pain and injustice.

There was no one to save me. No one to speak for me.

But you can speak out for the children who can't.

I'm done hiding behind the "safety" of locked posts and anonymity. Feel free to repost this, in whole or in part. Silence is the enemy of truth.

Attention

Kitty Orion wants the pettins and he wants them nao.