I Don’t know. Maybe it’s been 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, or 40 years since that intrusion of sexual abuse into your life. And somehow, say with a time warp, or a divine manipulation and interference with time, you can go there and whisper into the ear of that younger you. Someone you’d trust. What would you say?
I’d tell that young me, “You’re going to be with you until the day you die, and then after that, so you’re gonna have to take care of yourself because sadly our mother is gone. To live this life, you are going to have to be smart and have courage. In this situation, this is what I think we should do. People go to work every day. Some go to businesses that stay open from 9am til 5pm and then the doors are locked and they go home until the next day and it opens again. Some businesses stay open 24 hours, seven days a week. Those 24 hours are split into 3 shifts, usually 7a-3p. Then 3p-11p. Then 11p-7a. When a shift changes, there’s usually a lot of people coming and going. I want you to go to a shift change. The one at 3p at that busy police station on 1st Street and 2nd Avenue. Trust me. When you see a large group of officers, both men and women, go over to that group and stand in the middle of that group and say, “There’s a man who lives in our house and at night after everyone is in bed, he comes into my room and undresses me.” At first it will get silent, and then someone will help you.” Nevah Staci Lent.
What would you say? What could you do? What would or could the farm girl or boy tell themselves to do that a city person could not? How could the altar boy or the girl who works in the church after school say that would have helped to escape that situation? How would you tell on that babysitter that your parents trusted? How would you tell on your father?
Would I tell my big brother who lived right down stairs? Looking back, with hindsight being 20/20, he would have discussed it with Somebody and it would not have gone well for me. I think the thing to do would be to get that information out of that house into more fearsome hands. And although I perceive that the percentages on child abuse have increased in the last few decades, I would not stay near the hands of the abusers because we would be dealing with their greatest fear.