A Friend and associate of mine recently founded a foundation much like Courageous Healers Foundation, the only difference is that theirs is for abused anilmals which I support a hundred percent, I my self am a big animal lover and have seen some of the dogs they get and have to rehabilitate and it sickens me, they are doing marvelous work.

Just the other day I was thinking about how sad it is that we, and I use the word we cautiously as it generalizes that everybody is included and that I do not know to be true. None the less, it occured to me the other day about how sad it is that most of us support foundations and causes to stop the abuse of animals yet most people will stand by and watch a child being abused or worse yet, if the child tells someone about it, they are more often than not ignored, told to be quite we do not want to hurt the family, it is part of growing up, just toughen up, etc.. etc,,, If we try to get the authrities involved, by the time anything happens, if it does, for the most part the child has clammed up and become to afraid to say anything more. Or as in a case I was a part of just recently, CPS will deem the case closed and nothing else is done, even with all the incriminating evidence, how sad this is. Yet if an animal is abused people do not hesitate to offer to lend a helping hand, no questions asked. The animal is rescued and given a second chance in life to grow up and be a happy and free aniamal or they are euthinized, at least they are given a fair chance and people will do whatever they can to save that animal..

I recently talked with my friend and associate about this topic and she was stunned at what she was hearing. The only answer she could come up with, and I understood it, was that animals do not have a voice. This is true, they don't. All they want to do is to love and be loved by us, yet because they are animals, people tend to harm them before they harm their children or spouse. There is no difference however, abuse is abuse and as sad it is to see an animal being abused, imgaine if it was not there, who would that person be abusing.

Ok, so animals do not have voices, what about a child? Do you think they are any different? If you said yes, think again, they do not have a voice. How do I know? I was one of those children and I know of countless others like me personally. Some of us lived in a house that from the ouside looked real good, everything "appeared" to be normal, yet behind the doors was a dark place. As a child we are vunerable to all types of emotions and feelings and very impressionable. In my case my father had just passed away and I needed a fathers love and a father figure in my life and when Jack came along and told me not to say anything, that we had a little secret, well I felt like cool, I am special to him and we have a sceret just between us. I was only twelve and I had no idea what he was doing was wrong. When he became violent and started beating me for punishment, I was told to keep quiet, I thought it was just a part of growing up and discipline, yet we were very involved in church and the Christian relegion, so there was a lot of confussion in my head. I truley thought that I was wothless, why was this happening to me, I felt all alone. In school I was filled with so much fear and shame and I had no direction. No matter how good I was, it was never good enough, I was still being beat and verbally abused. Back in the 70's when this was happening, it was all about submission and we were to listen and onlty talk when spoken to. The one time I did mention something to someone about Jacks violence the comment back to me was "No I dont think so, Jack is to nice of a guy to that" and when the minister of the church was told about the sexual abuse by my stepfather, and I believe he was not really told the whole truth, I was told it was just part of growing up and that I would not be gay. So you see, even though we have a voice as a human being, more often than not our voices as children are not heard or they are meaningless. Our parents and peers for the most part, I believe, just flat do not want to hear or look at the truth as it "REALLY IS" or have no idea how to deal with what the children are going through so they minimize it, much as their parents probably did to them and right on down the family line, learned behavior as they call it.

So why do people not want to get involved when they see or know that a child is being abused? One of the excuses I most often hear, and I will say this, it is sickening and sad to me, is they do not want to destroy the family, what is it going to do to the family structure. What about the child, what is going to do to him? The family structure is already broken and can only get worse if it remains a secret, and the child, well the child is in for a long, rough and devasting ride in life. The effects of  child abuse are far greater than you can ever imagine. By keeping it silent, everyone gets sicker and continues to suffer, yet if we are courageous enough to speak up, not only the whole family can work on healing, and yes there might be some legal consequences, more importanty, the child can start to heal at an early age and live a life of happiness and peace believing in himself and breaking the chain of abuse that has been handed down from generation to generation in his family.

I remember there was a point in my life where I asked my wife why God did  just not take me when I was laying on the ground bleeding to death, then and right then the answer came to me, "It was because he wanted me to break the chain of abuse that had been in my family for several generations before me." I can tell you today that message is true today. Had I had not gone through all I went thruogh in my life, I would not have the knowledge and wisdom to do what I am doing today.

So ask yourself, is a childs life worth more than an animals. Please do not be afraid to get involved. All it takes is phone call, let the authorities figure it.

If you are supporting any Foudations, shelters or cause for abused Animals, please continue to do so. Hoever,  I challenge you to put that same effort towards supporting foundations, shelters and causes to help abused children. Think about it, is a childs life not worth at least as much as an animals life? Please get involved, we can not do this alone, yet together we can do anything.

Namaste

Randy