‘Why Didn't You Just Leave?’
By: Melissa Jeltsen
Source: Huffington Post
“Abuse usually isn’t consistent or constant. In between, you become a
normal couple.”(1) “When I got upset about my bruises, he said I looked sexy
all beat up. I was defeated.” (1) “I realized I could have died in that
apartment and no one would have known.”(1) “I thought I could make him so much
more in love with me that it would click — he wouldn’t want to hurt me.” (1) “He
warned me that if I left him, he would hunt me down. He was going to shoot me.
He was going to paralyze me. He was going to throw acid on my face.”(1) “The
mortgage was $2,500 a month. My son’s day care was $1,200 a month. Plus
groceries. Car payment. Credit card bills... I was terrified.”(1)
Six quotes, six
stories, millions more unheard and untold. Who was actually going to listen
they think, who would care they would say. Domestic violence is not an issue
that can be ignored; it is not a problem that will go away on its own. It is
visible in all cultures and miraculously accepted in some. After the story
about Ray Rice surfaced hundreds of survivors spoke out in hopes to help people
understand why a woman would stay in an abusive relationship. In most
situations children are involved and the mother cannot leave because she knows
the father will come after her and take away the children and possibly harm
them as well. However others have no one to go to because their husbands have
taken everyone away from them and isolated the woman, others have no financial
support to lean back on after leaving. Sadly some have fallen into the illusion
that their husband still loves them and never meant to harm them, and others
are terrified to leave because they have been threatened.
People must read
news reports like this because people must understand that domestic violence is
a serious issue that must be dealt with, and woman need to come to the
realization that they must seek help and become the free and worthy women they
have the right to be.
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