Will You Take A Stand?
I have a question for you. “What are you doing to stop abuse and neglect in your community?”
As the staff and I prepare to head out to the Cowan Civic Center in Lebanon, MO to participate in the “Take A STAND” against abuse event, http://stand4justice.org I am haunted by the news report I heard and then read last evening regarding a terrible tragedy that was just discovered in Lebanon, MO. The headline reads, “5 men face federal indictments for ‘most horrific’ sexual torture case in southwest Missouri.” It is believed that these “most horrific” acts have been going on for the last seven years. I do not wish to go into detail about this activity here, you can read it for yourself: http://www.ky3.com/news/ky3-lebanon-sex-trafficking-indictment-09092010,0,1847780.story.
I find it quite ironic that on the eve of attending an event designed to shed light on abuses such as these and many others that a story like this breaks. Perhaps someone is trying to tell us something – it is indeed time for each of us to stand up and be counted. It is time for every decent person living in our communities to stand up and say we cannot and will not tolerate this kind of activity any longer.
So I ask the question again, “What are you doing to stop abuse and neglect in your community?” What are you as an individual, church, community group, or family doing to see that what happened to this sexually abused woman will not happen to anyone else? What are you doing to prevent another child from being hurt, mistreated or maligned in a way that may scar him/her for the rest of his/her life?
Regardless of our religious, political, pro-life or pro-choice views, etc. it seems to me that we all can agree that sex trafficking, child abuse, spousal abuse, elder abuse and the like should never be tolerated within our communities. I am focusing on our own communities because we often think these are problems faced by other, larger, more metropolitan areas, but as you can see they are occurring right here in our own backyard and now that you know about it you have to ask yourself, “What I am prepared to do about it?”
If you really have no idea where to start to make a difference, perhaps a drive to the Cowan Civic Center, Lebanon, MO tonight is the place to start. We will be there from 6-10pm. If you cannot make the event check out their webpage http://stand4justice.org/, or look through the Shapes Mentoring Program webpage. We would love to help you find a way to take a stand. If you won’t who will?
If you get started today you may just be the one who can step in to a situation that is about to happen like the one in the KY3 and be the one who can stop it before the nightmare begins.
STAND UP, make a difference! There is no reason, no excuse not to get involved. The responsibility belongs to each one of us – individual, church, community group, family and the like. Let’s put an end to this needless abuse and make our communities a safe place to live once again.
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