After meeting with Linda and Julie this past week, thoughts were racing through my head on so many different points; I couldn’t even connect the dots. One of the things I’ve learned to be a valuable tool in sorting those points out is stream of consciousness writing. Sure it’s probably just as hard to follow down on paper as it is in my head, but at least this way, I can rely on others to help sort through them. So, I apologize in advance for any and all non-sequester thought processes and abrupt changes in direction. It is my hope that you will garner something from what I have to offer, even if I cannot define what that something is!It is not easy to find inspiration. In times where we hear of darkness, frivolousness, and greed, finding something greater to work for takes effort. I feel like we too often look for heroes to outsmart and conquer our ills. But we will only be disappointed. Looking to people in positions of power, often the people we put into those positions in the first place, ultimately leads to some form of disappointment. I have become, in many ways, disenchanted with the system, overcome with pessimism.
Over time, I have learned to look elsewhere for my inspiration, my heroes, and search out hope. It’s counter intuitive, even risky, but more often than not, I find what I am looking for not in heroes in the traditional sense, but in the victims of that omnipresent darkness. Those hard-to-hear stories of people who lost to- or were lost within that darkness, are what motivate me. In my case, it is especially the victims of domestic violence, those who have found the very difficult path to survivor-ship status, who play the role of heroes. And in the instances where survivor-ship is never attained, it is those who fight for the victims that are my heroes. While I hope I never have to fight to become of the first category, it is the second in which I am determined to join—who doesn’t want to play superhero? As with superheroes, actions, more often than not, speak louder than words. How many times was that told to me as a child?! It seemed constant. Words can be beautiful things, powerful things, but still, pictures of action elicit an entirely different response.
We, as a society, like to hear of the little person who defeated the mighty giant. That action is seen as the ultimate battle. Still, too often we do nothing to help the little person in their pursuit. Today we see more people fall at the hands of a giant than who conquer it. But imagine a story in which many people stand up to the giant. Some may still fall, but as more stand to take their places, what cannot be achieved? Isn’t that the whole idea behind a participatory democracy? So who don’t are actions coincide with our words, how have the roles been reversed, allowing words to become more powerful insomuch as they stand alone?
Fix the Hurt is a platform for joining all the little persons defending themselves against the giant of domestic violence. Awareness/conscious rising is the first step in leveling the playing field against domestic violence. We can all be superheroes. I know I would, at the very least, aspire to become one.
