We Are Here---Survivors

I borrowed the title of this article from a blog that I want my readers to check out. The blog is called Confessions of an Onion Girl. It is written by a beautiful woman who is a survivor of childhood abuse. You will find her story of abuse at the following link:
http://oniongirl13.wordpress.com/abuse/ .
I warn you, this is not an easy story to read.

I have been reading stories like Onion Girl's for several weeks now online. There is quite a community online now, not like the days that I started my own recovery work from incest in the late 1980's. I thank all of you survivors for the courage that you have to write online about your abuse so that other survivors can find you and know that they are not alone, as I felt for many years.

In Onion Girl's post called "We Are Here", she says, "I realized that in our solidarity we are strong, and in our purpose to heal one another we are united. We are here."

To continue by quoting from Onion Girl's post, "We come from all walks of life. We are doctors, students, drive through attendants, IT specialists and engineers. We are Christians, Buddhists, Pagans, and any other stripe of religion you can think of. We are women. We are men. We are children as young as you can imagine and adults taking our last breaths remembering the crimes perpetrated against us, hopefully with some closure and peace. We are fat and thin, sane and insane, wild and cautious, but most of all, we are everywhere.

We are here.

Wherever you look, we are here. We are in your schools, your homes, your classrooms, and your places of worship. Our faces are written with a common sadness, but also with a common strength. We are in your reflection and in the window looking out at you, seeing you look in at us.
We are here."

I could continue and quote the rest of her article but I won't. I want you, my readers, to click on the following link and go to Onion Girl's blog Confessions of an Onion Girl to read the rest of her post.
http://oniongirl13.wordpress.com/2009/04/15/we-are-here/
Onion Girl wrote this to use in a speech that she was giving the next day on her childhood sexual abuse. After reading this post, you will be aware of how far reaching the arm of abuse is in our world. Everybody is affected by it. With awareness, we can change the world.

In writing her speech, Onion Girl speaks out for all of us who have survived childhood abuse and for those who didn't survive. You hear the stories more and more frequently on the TV news channels of a child who was killed by a parent or friend of the family because they were being punished and it got out of hand, at least that is what the abuser wants you to believe. Too many of our children are dying of abuse. Too many more are surviving and in the silence growing up to live as wounded adults. Most of us stop the abuse with our generation and don't pass it on to our children and grandchildren. Some of us become abusers ourselves. Some of us end the pain with the taking of our own lives. Some of us are strong enough to go on to recover. Some of us continue to live in the pain because we can't find any way out of it. Some of us share our knowledge and pain with others and build a community of love and support for ourselves. The internet has become a very valuable tool for spreading our love and hope for a brighter future for us, our children and the rest of mankind. With knowledge, the abuse can stop. Please help us to stop the abuse. Thank you Onion Girl for writing this informative post. Thanks for sharing yourself and your inner thoughts with the world.

This week, I received two awards. I received a Love Ya Award first from Surviving By Grace at
http://thethirdfloorwindow.blogspot.com/2009/04/love-ya-award.html and second a Love Ya Award from Heal and Forgive at http://healandforgive.blogspot.com/2009/04/love-ya-award.html . Thank you to both of these beautiful ladies for the honor that they have given me. With both awards, I am in good company. Click on both of the links and check out the other blogs that the awards were given to.
Patricia