Sunday, September 27, 2009

Remorse in the Wake of Inaction




Last night I had a quick errand to the hardware store. Getting out of my car I was horrified hearding this man screaming at a young girl as he pulled her across the parking lot. Many of us heard. None of us knew what to do. We clustered together at the customer service desk. They had heard it too and one of the Lowe's employees went out to "do something."

My heart breaks even today as I sit with knowing that I did nothing. That I didn't know what to do. That I witnessed something really wrong and allowed it to happen.

Remorse is an important teacher.

And prayer is an important ally and antidote.

May that little girl, and all children know a world without hurt.

May that man, and all of us who act out of rage be invited into the healing transformation of love.

3 comments:

QUOTIDIANNE said...

Your story resonant with me. Something very similar happened to me many years ago. I often think of it, and am ashamed of the coward I was. Although I continue to be a coward in similar situations, I like to believe that I learned something from that first incident. IF nothing else, that children deserve loving kindness from all.

fromtheirshoes said...

Sometimes I wish child abuse survivors could ban together one day each month and wear T shirts that say
"Hey-- Children are People Too,
Remember to Treat them with Kindness and Respect"
It could be eye opening to see the shear numbers of people in malls, grocery stores, sporting and school events that at one time were victims or a witness. It might be a HUGE wake up call for everyone. Then maybe we wouldn't always see how children are continually being dominated and disregarded, without having a way of responding for the sake of the children being intimidated.

Anonymous said...

How I wish that as a child in an abusive home, someone would have noticed...someone would have stepped in to help me. Even as that little girl part of me longs for that to have happened, the grown up woman part continues to shy away from stepping in when I see a child being hurt. I long to stand up for those whi are unable, and as I continue on in my journey, I hope to get there.