Dear Editor,
Every day we read of women being brutalized by men; remaining in violent domestic relationships; believing that being beaten is a sign that the men love them, etc. We read of all the efforts of Ministry of Human Services, Help and Shelter and other protective agencies, but yet the violence against women has been escalating and getting more gruesome day after day.
We hear about women getting protective orders, being advised to remove themselves from the situation; we read all the letters to the editor and listen to all the talk shows on domestic violence and hear about who attended this or that international meeting on domestic violence – but yet the violence prevails with our women being slaughtered on a daily basis.
It is so painful to even think about the violence and brutalization of children. (It hurts to even type the letters to complete a word.)
Something different has to be done. It is my humble view that we need to speak with our grown men and young boys – not to them but with them. We have to educate them about love, kindness, respect for women; how to care for women; how to deal with marital issues and issues that would arise in similar relationships; how to see women as the ‘help meet’ that God made for them and that children are precious and helpless. We have to teach them how to let the soul prevail over the ego, how the macho image is admirable but when it is tainted with violence, blood and stamped paedophile, it can no longer be seen as macho but more an image of utter cowardice.
Our grown and young men need help and need it speedily. Let’s reach out to them. Let’s not continue with the attitude that “it ain’t my business.” Domestic violence is everybody’s business, no one knows who is the next woman who would be killed or the next child who would be killed or raped – it could be you or me or your child or my child. It is my business, it is your business.
Yours faithfully,
M Rodrigues
