By: Joseph Douglas Rich
My situation is common to all ‘family”. My father was a Baptist Deacon, Vice President of Chamber of Commerce, wealthy, and respected. The “majority opinion” of he, family, community, and culture was children remain silent. All the above held the majority opinion, and my father held absolute power over me.
I felt my opinion was a minority because each instance I spoke out I was beaten with belt buckles, punched in the face, and sent to neighbors while relatives visited so no one could see black eyes, cuts, and bruises administered behind closed doors by a community leader (alcoholic). The family community culture supported silence and denial.
Imagine being seven-years-old, an adult is twice your size plus, or think of it if you’re 5-6 feet tall having a 12-foot tall person attack you today.
My friends and family associates were of no help even complicit by silence seeing what happened to me. I believed if I promoted my point of view, I would be beaten worse and this proved true. I still believe children opinions are marginalized, a minority, and abuses are more common than imagined as it is too raw to speak out even as an adult. However, I speak out and have taken children from abuse, initiated protected children’s homes with my resources, and initiated passage of laws abroad to protect children and stop silence and abuse.
The situation of my childhood prevented me from doing much about my fall into silence, and I paid the price for speaking up eventually. The benefit of my point of view would have been healthier adult children of alcoholics and less hidden abuse. The benefit would apply then and today. Today, I would speak out always, though the power adult can hide behavior. How would I react today? Confront abuse head-on and have them placed in prison as I have in Nepal with people operating a so-called Children’s Home where body parts were sold and children sexually abused. I met with ministers, and the King had an order-new law initiated in 60 days circumvented normal 5-10 year process that protects all Nepalese children today. Look at the difference in the illustration size power. You can stop red-light abuse—never be silent. You are powerful.
