A dreaded word, yet one of the least discussed topics except on Television where it creeps up on screen only when there is some incident shocking enough to gather more viewers for the shouting anchor.
A problem so lightly tossed out of the light as if it doesn't exist. A problem which has been changing the lives of people since ancient times, for the worst.
Abuse exists in almost everyone's life, just in various forms. It could be verbal, physical, mental, sexual, visible, hidden etcetera. It could be a simple derogatory comment from a co-worker or classmate or a beating that a child took from a drunk parent for no reason. It could be mild intimate touch to rape. It could be done by enemies as well as the people whom you thought were close to you as friends, family or relatives. There is no way to define what abuse would feel to a person. A person might be feeling abused just after being touched simply but the dictionary's definition would call it just a touch.
Abuse is hidden from the society because there is no collective conscience on the definition of abuse which exists to help the victims. Seeing the Ying and Yang has made the society believe that the victims must be at some kind of fault to let it happen to themselves. The thought is so deep-rooted that we were unconsciously growing up inhaling the same ideas.
Why do we need to talk about it?
There are people out on roads, in classrooms, in offices, in homes, in markets and maybe in the chair next to you who kept mum about his/her abuse. Who felt that maybe it was his/her mistake that something happened. There is a high chance that the victim doesn't even understand that he/she has been abused because we were not taught that feeling uncomfortable by a touch, word, look and a person could be a form of abuse as well.
It has been so low-keyed. Abuse is not always extreme but its result is. The scars are hard to let go and very visible to the victim and a lack of understanding increases the problem tenfold. If you are being touched, stared, talked to in a way which makes you uncomfortable, then you are being abused.
Abuse doesn't happen just to the vulnerable. It also happens to those who stand tough amongst others. When abused, the stronger ones retreat to their shell and hide the instance because people have mocked their weakness in the past, Will the world believe that they have been abused?
Would it be so hard just to accept that anyone could be a victim of abuse and anyone could be an abuser?
Not even every abuser knows that he/she is abusing the person in front of them. They tend to accept is as a part of their behaviour and hence it becomes a natural thing for them. For some of them, it is a way to display power when they feel weak or just tell the world that they are strong. Make it clear to them that what they are doing is an act of abusing and it hurts.
It has been so low-keyed. Abuse is not always extreme but its result is. The scars are hard to let go and very visible to the victim and a lack of understanding increases the problem tenfold. If you are being touched, stared, talked to in a way which makes you uncomfortable, then you are being abused.
Abuse doesn't happen just to the vulnerable. It also happens to those who stand tough amongst others. When abused, the stronger ones retreat to their shell and hide the instance because people have mocked their weakness in the past, Will the world believe that they have been abused?
Would it be so hard just to accept that anyone could be a victim of abuse and anyone could be an abuser?
Not even every abuser knows that he/she is abusing the person in front of them. They tend to accept is as a part of their behaviour and hence it becomes a natural thing for them. For some of them, it is a way to display power when they feel weak or just tell the world that they are strong. Make it clear to them that what they are doing is an act of abusing and it hurts.
Why did I feel the need to write something about this today?
Because it happens to us all and all of us are suffering.
