Innocent

Child Abuse

All children are born innocent like me, We enter this world helpless and dependent. Trusting adults to take on the responsibility of our care with tender and loving arms. Once innocence is lost, It can never be recovered, when it is lost too soon the wounds that remain can take that much longer to heal. But there is a weapon we can use to fight those who would harm our children, particularly some of our most vulnerable children, those who don’t even have the ability to say the word HELP. The molesters, rapists, and abusers hide behind us innocent and defenseless ones, those who are afraid to talk and those who need to learn other ways to talk. Young victims like us who defenseless and ashamed were told and forced to remain silent, Who could hear our cries? Some of us were threatened or in shock from our traumatic experiences, thus were forced into bearing our secrets alone. When our flashbacks occurred later on in life and when we finally came out from our delayed discovery wanting to seek justice, we found that it was too late due to unfair statute of limitations for reporting the crime. The justice system deprived us. Again we became victims and denied our rights to express our traumatic experiences. Parents can be so consumed by guilt that they are unwilling to acknowledge the truth. For those children already damaged, we have to summon our courage and strength to nurse them back to health and love them, We also have to care for the children who come later. With diligence and compassion we must educate ourselves. We must ask for justice and recognize that our delayed discovery is due to our lack of education then the dear like me will gain our rights to self protection. If justice can be fair to us and become more flexible on the statute of limitations for reporting these crimes, then you will see our eyes shining and our lips smiling. If it happens to one of your children, let your child know she or he is not at fault and demand justice for this child. This will enhance our self-esteem and make you feel better. Don’t let those criminals be triumphant, don’t let them rob us of our childhood. I know because I have been badly scarred. But I keep moving forward. There is much work to be done.