April is here! With it hoping to bring a warm spring, nice weather, and a time for healing. Also April bring sexual assault awareness and Take Back The Night. I'm speaking this year again so thought I'd share my speech with you...
Hey everyone - I have to tell you, every year I get to speak at Take Back the Night I always try to be inspiring - at least I hope that I am. I realize that tonight can be very heavy - hearing other people's stories, looking at the shirts people have made, all the emotions, and even the topic is hard to talk about and listen to. Last year after leaving here I looked at my daughter and realized that when I was her age (3) I was already a victem. I cried. I know it happened to me but seeing my bright eyed, smiling, playful girl without a worry in the world - all I could think of was "how the hell does someone look at a child like that and have any sexual thoughts!?" And I cried even more because she's so innocent and the thought of someone hurting her kills me. Even tho I was molested as a child that young up though my teen years I still can't get my head around how someone could do such things to someone so innocent.
That is what tonight is all about - realizing that these things happen - and talking about it. It's also why tonight can be so heavy and hard to talk about, but it's why we have to - to raise awareness about what happened to us, or to someone we know, and to give each other support. Last year I realized that this is really important and we should do more, more often whenever we can to raise awareness, and to support each other - so I started a blog about overcoming my past called "Overcoming a Bad Past".
Before going on I'd like to tell you more about me and my story, and then maybe you'll understand why this night is so important to me...This month I'll be a 25 year old mother of 2, and was so lucky to have met a wonderful man 7years ago who became my husband and my strongest support person for all my flash backs and hard times. My life while it's not perfect it really is a fairy tale for me having all these wonderful people in my life including my family who never turned their backs on me when I was going through so much. I was molested by my own father, yes, this world has some very sick people in it, as I said earlier I can't get my head around the idea of someone touching a child so young in such a way but yes my biological father did this to me, it's something I will never understand. By the time I entered first grade that was over. Unfortantly that's not where my story ends...he's parents were given coustidy of me. My grandfather then started the touching, and I was too scared to get help until after I had moved out at the age of 17 and finally told the lady from VIP who I was already talking to what I had gone through and kept secrete for so long.
I speak at Take Back the Night, write my blog, and share my story in hopes that by shareing I'll inspire more people to share their stories or read a pome, sing a song or do whatever to get their feelings out weather about themselfs or someone they know. And by doing this we'll raise more awareness and one day hopefully put an end to sexual assault. So please if you're a suvivor or know one think about speaking. I know for me the more I speak about my past and talk at TBTN the more strength it gives me, my voice is like my superpower. If you have stage fright (which I battle each year) or don't want people to know who you are (which is understandable, I've been there too) you can always write up what you have to say and give it to someone at VIP for them to read for you. Which I had to do this year incase I couldn't make it here tonight as I'm due any day with my second child or just had her, either way I wanted my speech out there so weather I'm speaking or one of the wonderful lady friends I've made through VIP is reading this, it's getting told. And thank you Michelle and Denise for going through this effort of reading this, emails, and having this on hand incase I'm unable to make it :) I know they are happy to read what you have to say, if you want, on your behalf. Not only do we gain strength by speaking out but we also gain power with the more people who hear our stories and realize how big of a reality sexual assault is - so for everyone that's here tonight, please come back next year and ask just 1 friend to come with you. Tonight when you go home think about shareing what you heard with your friends or family and talk to them about everything.
If you are a victem or have been a victem and need someone to talk to or need help, please go to VIP and get it. I know from talking to them myself how much of a help they are! I offer my blog to everyone but that's just my experience and thoughts about anything realted to overcoming my past, I am not an expert and I can't help like VIP does, I just offer this as something uplifting to read if you so chose. I really hope that my blog helps, but that if you need help and someone to talk to that you will contact VIP.
No comments:
Post a Comment