Violation

NOTE: Only initials will be given for the sake of the victimsS.B.: She was about 6. She use to play with her cousins like any normal child who grew up around close relatives. She told me that one day her uncle entered the room and told her cousins to leave. She, being a little girl, thought nothing of it because he was family. You should be able to trust family, right? She couldn't. After he approached and sat behind this ball of radiant energy, he proceeded to just slip his finger in his private area. Something so abrupt happened to this little girl, and I don't think she knew how to react. How do you react to that as a little girl? He proceeded to rub her chest, making the situation worse. He even tried to take it a step further by pulling down his pants in the hopes of getting some action. She was saved by an older cousin who happened to walk in. That cousin didn't realize what was going on or what she had done, but my heart dropped knowing what could've happened if she hadn't done that.

This is my closest friend who I had no idea could go through this type of stuff cause she was stronger than The Rock in my eyes and I didn't think anyone could've ever broken her. She told this in a group with a few friends, and their reactions shocked and puzzled me at the same time. There was the "family" side that argued that it's usually ok for family to touch you when you're young (ie. when showering), and that she shouldn't feel any particular way about it because he's just doing something familiar. Then there was the side that applied the "purple touch" rules which generally claimed that all foreign touch in a particular manner towards a minor is deemed wrong once they have the common knowledge to realize it. To back this, they pointed out that showering doesn't involve any type of insertion for girls or boys so he crossed the line from the very start and was only getting worse. Amidst all this, I could see my friend crumble inside so I had to take her out the room cause you could feel her confusion from a mile away. We no longer talk about this incident.

C.K. The first time she could remember anything happening in her life was when she was 13. That was her "glow-up" year as some would call it. She went from 190lbs to 130lbs and she was in her last year of middle school. Boys started talking to her, people started realizing she existed. She consciously realized that she, herself, existed. That's when she met Lee. He was cute, funny and everything she thought a girl would want. He lived close to her school too, but she couldn't muster up the courage to go because that would mean sneaking around and she's never been to another person's house, so everything seemed like a big step for her. Despite all the red lights, she took that step. She met him after school and went to his house. Everything was perfect for her. They sat and talked about stupid things and they laughed about it all. Then he kissed her. This girl who never had any sort of social interaction with a boy, had sparks flying all in her head. She almost didn't realize that he was pushing her down on the bed and trying to take off her clothes. She immediately retaliated, kicking him off and jumping off the bed. She refused to give him what he wanted countless times until he couldn't take it anymore. All this seemed like she was getting out and I thought this was one of those almost incidents, where they escape peer pressure. Then she told me he locked her inside the room. All I could picture from that was a caged animal who thought it was being nurtured, only to be slaughtered and sold as a mere piece of meat. She had to give in. She was sneaking around with nobody knowing where she was or who she was with.

This was another friend of mine from a different country who just recently gave up on suicide. When I say gave up on suicide, I mean that she hasn't stopped thinking about it or going through the same feelings but just gives up on trying to escape because she is just "too lazy to put that much effort into initially nothing." Events like this happened to her again and again after that. She was groped at her front gate once, then she was almost kidnapped by an old guy in a huge van after walking home from church in the rain. I feel like someone would ask, "Why didn't she tell someone?" She didn't trust it in her gut. She would be blamed for going over there in the first place. Everything would've been pinned on her for going over to his house which, to a lot of people reading this, might be a justified verdict. However, a little girl who hasn't been sent out into the world knowing she can come back to someone might get lost in her mistakes. She is one of the most vibrant beings I've ever come across, but she can tell you that her lowest moments with a smile on her face knowing that it might come back to torment her in any minute. She is scarred not by who she thought she was, but who she knows she is. She has a permanent weak spot for people and she can't help but forgive others no matter how bad she doesn't want to. She usually claims she's too lazy to hold up those feelings, but I know she just can't take the pain of carrying them for too long.

IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT

Read that line as many times as you want because it is NEVER your fault. You had the right to wear that outfit. You had the right to go to that place and speak to that person. You had the right to trust him/her. You have the right to make your own choices in life because you were created as an individual and not contracted to anyone in such a manner that your body is free for him/her. No one has the right to violate you in any way shape or form.

Don't let that twisted being mess up your whole future. There is always something to learn from fallouts in your life. Every individual that has been broken has been given a scar that makes them so much more unique if they embrace it and overcome their past. These are the strongest girls I know to date, and I know you know a couple too.