Everyday I am told to "not get involved". I watch people in the most tragic situations but I am told "to stay out of it"....... "Its not your business".......my question is when does it become our business and when did we, as a society, stop caring about one another ??

I have seen many tragic things in my life. Some I have experienced first hand and some I have had to sit back and watch unfold in front of me. Why?? Because I was not allowed to get involved.  We watch children being physically and sexually abused and we are told to stay out of it. We see people starving around the world and watch as people die senselessly and we say its not our problem.

When did we become so far removed from the injustices of the world to the point that no one lifts a finger to make a difference. I know I am only one woman but I am tired of people telling me to not get involved and that I cant take on someone else's problems. I realize I cant save the world but I can make a difference one person at a time.I am tired of people being so scared to take a stand that they sweep things under the rug and pretend that they arent happening. When do we step out of our box and take a stand for those who dont have a voice.

Personally, I dont work that way. I am a person that refuses to sit back and watch things happen. I am not going to watch as someone is being mistreated and hurt. Yes, sometimes people dont want the help. I have been refused by women who were beaten daily by their husbands and I have been refused by homeless people when trying to get them help. Some people just dont want the help but there is always that underlying reason why......They are afraid........When you have known something so long, change is terrifying. It is easier to stay in the pain then face the fear of doing something differently. As sad as it is, alot of people have given up hope that anything will ever be any different.

Two weeks ago I called Child Protective Services about my daughters friend, who I will call Sara. Sara had just shared with me that her father had sexually abused her AGAIN. Now he was convicted of sexual abuse of a violent nature against her but he served no jail time. Instead he got probation and went home to his mother. Sara's mother refused to stop seeing the father and would pass Sara around so she wouldnt interfere in their relationship. A few months ago, Sara, her sister and her mother were evicted from their apartment. The mother then decided to forget what the court had said about him seeing Sara.She decided that her children's wellfare was not important and she moved the whole family in together again. Well, the obvious happened...he began sexually abusing Sara again.

The sad part of this story is when that child looked at me and begged me not to tell anyone because her father gave her mother money and they needed it right now. This child believes that this money is more important than she is. When she told me I cried for her and then I got angry. How could her mother do this to her own child?? It repulsed me.

Now, before I acted I shared this with someone else and guess what they said to me...Dont Get Involved!!.......and for a moment I almost conceeded to their thinking but then I realized that if I dont do something, this child will be abused for the rest of her life by her father, no doubt, and then it will be her little sisters turn. If I dont do something it will never change so I did what I had to do. Sara trusted me with this information but I had to act on the information I had. I mean what kind of person would I be if I let her go back there to that??

My point to all of this is that we are told to not get involved because it is too much to take on. We are told that we cant help people but we can. We can make a difference in peoples lives by just giving of ourselves in a small capacity. It could be going and buying buckets of chicken and driving them down to the homeless tents on the river or making calls to help a battered wife find a safe house.....and picking her up to take her there or you could do what I did....I kept a child from being sexually abused by her father again. What did it take for me to do that?? 30 minutes of my time on the telephone.

Are we so caught up in ourselves that we forget what we are suppose to be about. Where is the love, care and compassion we should have been raised with?? What are we teaching our children by telling them to not get involved?? Our society is so ego based that we cant see beyond our own debit cards and plastic lifestyles......We miss what God wants from us by being totally emmersed in our own lives. Its time to put down the cell phone,move away from the TV and go out into the world and make a difference for someone else.

I was told once that we do not do things in this life for a pat on the back and for other to see. We do it for God. Today when I do something for someone else, I dont tell a soul. I am not doing it to be praised. I do it because it is the right thing to do......So next time you see someone being hurt or mistreated try not walking away. How about getting involved and making a difference in someone else's life....and after you have, Dont tell anyone you did it. See how good you feel after that!!

Namaste~

 

Ah, that is a hard path to take, Elyse. Personally, I say you did the correct thing, only, do not expect to be thanked for it. No, I am NOT saying that is why you did it, hell, no! Only, it is a hard path to take, simply because it is often the people we help whom turn on us the most viciously. It is not their fault, they are trapped and oft do not know what to do; will strike out in their frustrations and helplessness at the only ones they feel they have the personal strength to do so. That’s the problem in these situations, the people feel weak and helpless against things that are overrunning (that they ALLOW to overrun) their lives; so when they discover an kindness, something goes wrong in their psyche. 1 - their own weakness has been placed right before their noses, and 2 - If someone is kind, it means they just must be weaker than themselves.

Totally wrong and most F’ed up, yeah, but that is the thing people fear when they say, “Do not get involved”.

So yes, YOU DID A GOOD THING and more power to you! Wish there were more of you like that out there in the world. Wish teachers did not usually lose their jobs when they take a stand. Still, we ALL have to do what we can where we can or else nothing will ever change for the good of All.

That mother was screwed up, did the WRONG thing because with effort there are certainly other options out there. *Sighs*

Gave some great advice there, the “Do and do not tell”. Best and safest for many reasons.

Cheers and blessings,
Melissa