More questions...

It's amazing, I don't remember Dad leaving for Viet Nam...but I remember when he returned home. I remember being afraid to go into the house. I can't even tell you why I was afraid, I just knew it was not safe.

I see service people on the news, being reunited with their families and it seems staged. How can they be so happy to see each other. My experiences weren't like that at all.

Yesterday I was driving with son #2 and he was joking around and reading Grimm's Fairy Tales. They are packed full of abuse and neglect. I remember when my kids were young I would change the stories because they were so cruel. I sat and wondered why these stories, written hundreds of years ago, still tell the tale of so many lives. Is this just human nature?

I cannot believe that we create children to neglect and abuse them. But that's what happens in about 30% of children's experiences. How do we fail to recognize the soul of children? If we acknowledge their inherent worth, and respect that soul, then none of this could happen.

What are we, as humans, doing to our offspring? When I think about amphibians, hatching from eggs, never knowing who their parents are, never being nurtured...it makes me sad. But, is that a better scenario than living with abuse? What about the abuse or neglect triggers resilience or surrender to it? Clare, you have asked this question before...but it is vital to understand. What makes a little child survive abuse and grow up to be Maya Angelou or Oprah, and another to lose themselves in addictions and self-loathing? I believe that it has something to do with finding your voice.

I don't know why, at age 10, I was able to say, "stop...I will no longer tolerate being used as an object". I do know that, in that instant, I declared my worth. The amazing thing is that the sexual abuse did stop, I learned that I had power over my own destiny. I still don't truely understand my worth or potential, but, back then, I did understand that I should not allow myself to be used by anyone. I can only believe that it was grace that saved me.

I will forever be grateful for Grace...
Maggie