Feb 18, 2008
Imagine wanting to scream and having your voice drown in the busy world of today, imagine waking up to a today with the scars of yesterday and a dark tomorrow, imagine living everyday of life with your darkest fears, imagine trying to speak out and having no one to hear you. Imagine wanting to breathe but instead being suffocated... imagine living when death seems like a better option. Just imagine...
The life of a victim fallen prey to child abuse or molestation isn’t any different from the above. Living in the 21st century we may believe we are groomed to be strong, independent individuals. We assume that such clichés of the past are wearing off today... fading away. But are we aware that the shadows of child abuse are still eclipsing over our youth? If not by a stranger on the street then by a family member at home, if not by a drunken friend then by an educated professor. The abuser today comes in any form of human relationship: bonded or not, related or not, he lurks and lures and an innocent youth falls prey to this act. Child abuse is the exploitation of a human not only physically but mentally and emotionally. The victim is molested off his future, his youth, his innocence and is prey to a disturbed, wayward life.
The predator expresses his uncontainable sexual urge but is he aware of how his pleasure becomes the victim’s plight. Although we just sympathize with the heart wrenching issue of child abuse and the victim, are we aware of what the abused goes through? When child abuse is enforced by the predator the victim undergoes sheer pain, fear and disgrace and eventually their life spirals out of control. When exploited at an early age the scars of the act are engraved on their life and memories forever, the abused is unconsciously entrapped in a world where they grow up to lead lives that are shadowed by the demons of unforgettable memory thus leading to depression and living a life of solitude and solace and eventually a slow and gradual separation of themselves from the family they belong to and the world. The victim feels guilt, thinks of himself as a hole in the universe, a universe in which he can’t fight back, a universe in which he can’t voice his painful experience due to fright of the predator, fear of disgrace.
Sometimes a victim is prey to this shattering act day after day until thrown away like an old rag with no value for his life and emotions. Thus the victim expresses his wounds and grief by sinking himself into a sea of depression further trying to survive the drowning by using alcohol as a life jacket and finally when the" life jacket "doesn’t do him any good he gives up and opts for ending the tediously complex and painful life he lived by committing suicide- the curtain fall of his survival and existence.
Child molestation is very much existing in the "modern, developed today". But what about the victim? His existence? Are we aware? We live in a contemporary world and judge one another by the clothes we wear, by the cell phones we use, by the music we listen to, by the click we are seen with. Everything is plastic. Are we real enough to see a person beyond his material assets? Are we still capable of understanding? Are we capable of becoming the lost voice of a victim? If we haven’t undergone and lived the life of the victim, we can at least try to become his voice, the voice of his wounds and scars and not let a blossoming youth’s life go in vain. If we can’t change the past, we can surely mend our today for a better tomorrow