Beyond Survival

---

---

Curiosity leads me to the on line Dictionary a few clicks of the mouse, taps of the keys and ‘voila!’ there I have it in black and white: SURVIVE, the definition.

sur•vive (sər-vīv’) http://dictionary.reference.com/
v. sur•vived, sur•viv•ing, sur•vives

v. intr.

1. To remain alive or in existence.
2. To carry on despite hardships or trauma; persevere: families that were surviving in tents after the flood.
3. To remain functional or usable: I dropped the radio, but it survived.

v. tr.

1. To live longer than; outlive: She survived her husband by five years.
2. To live, persist, or remain usable through: plants that can survive frosts; a clock that survived a fall.
3. To cope with (a trauma or setback); persevere after: survived child abuse.

All these definitions apply to me I think and clearly I am not alone.

Yet I feel troubled, I feel troubled because there are millions of victims beyond my reach. People who are suffering at the hands of someone that claims to love them. A human being, a perpetrator; one who has the ability to kiss a mouth, trace the lines of a body, share utter intimacy with another and then verbally abuse and physically beat the ever living daylights out of all that they proclaim to cherish.

A victims’ self-esteem is wrestled and pummeled until they no longer even recognize their own reflection.

It is not enough for me to have survived; the world needs my story and all of the stories, silence only perpetuates victimization. With a little luck our voices will join with the wind and get beneath the wings of those victims who have not yet realized a way out.

Learn about teen dating violence, talk to your children. Learn about domestic violence talk to your friends. Know the signs be part of the solution. Create awareness and break the silence.