'She must like to be hit", "she is so stupid", these words echo in the lives of victims and survivors of abuse thus inviting them/us to stay rather than put up with daggers from the mouths of contempt. Threats from the abuser verses judgement from those who say "not me I would never let that happen to me" or "if he/she lifts a hand to me", blah, blah, blah. Don't ask us why we stay ask us why we leave. We leave because we can't take the pain anymore, because we get tired of listening to those footsteps coming towards us and the I love you's that come afterward. I stayed because I didn't know I had a choice. I thought this is the way it was supposed to be.
When I left my abuser my family turned against me and I was all alone. It made me stronger and it provided me with the fight I needed to stand up for myself and you today. Words are powerful and their impact is unforgettable yet undetectable to the naked eye. We stay for the reasons that are behind close doors the ones nobody gets to see but us. The ones we are judged for time and time again. A victim should not have to justify to anyone why he or she stay in a relationship where abuse is a staple of survival. I fight back now, I didn't back then. I fight with my voice and my pen which here for you to take as your own. All I ask of you is that you speak out in your own way, whether it is making a phone call or handing someone a phone number to call or just being there to listen without passing judgement.
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