barely tall enough
to reach
the first swinging hoop
from the little metal platform
welded onto the jungle gym.
So, when the big
blond-haired boy
with the raspy voice
taunted her,
she froze.
And when he shoved her
out of line and
she landed hard
on the concrete,
she remained silent,
and the other children
did nothing,
their eyes averted
in fear and shame
and the mild disgust
the world feels for victims.
Later, she recounted the story
while her mother and
grandmother cooked dinner.
When she showed them
her scraped elbow,
her mother said:
"What did you do
to make him shove you?"
Her grandmother added:
"He sounds like
a very sad little boy.
You should pray for him."
That day she learned
about her place
in the world,
about what she could
expect, and what she
should tolerate.
So, when her husband
screamed at her for buying
creamy peanut butter
instead of crunchy,
she found herself
thinking how sorry
he must be, and that
she needed to pray
for him.
Intimate-partner violence (IPV), or domestic violence (DV), affects all of us in some way.
For example: mass shootings significantly impacted children: 25 percent of mass shooting fatalities (211) were children. This is primarily driven by mass shootings related to domestic or family violence, in which over 40 percent of fatalities were children. (EverytownResearch.org)
For a wealth of information about IPV/DV, or to seek *confidential* help, please visit the National Domestic Violence Hotline website, or call the Hotline at 1-800-799-7233
(c) 2017, by Hannah Six
Image: Andreas160578
