Time to End Victim Violence

Victim Violence (definition): the phenomenon of both intentional and unintentional shaming, lack of support for, and silent denigration of, victims of abuse and neglect—after they have suffered episodes of victimisation. It is wherever functions for empathy and action for victims fail.

Still not enough is known of violence done to victims. Still not enough is being done. Still not enough outrage is borne out of this issue.

It will always be time to end victim violence. But it will never truly end in this life. But that is no excuse to not fight the good fight of everlasting advocacy. Indeed, victim violence only has advocacy as the igniter for systematic societal programs of change, even from a single encouraging act.

Education is massive. So many people are completely unaware of the victimisation that comprises the violence against victims, which is separate from the assaults on their person they suffer out of their actual episodes of abuse and neglect.

But action is equally massive. If acts of random kindness were done routinely most of the problem would not exist. But that is not the world we live in most of the time.

How can we, as individuals, do more?

The most important act regarding victim violence, which we all may have passively or actively engaged in from time to time, is to understand violence from the victim’s viewpoint.

Any neglect or abuse is violent.

We could say that any failure to love is also violent. And the violence against victims almost always runs well past a simple failure to love. These forces against the victim are destructive to the point of destroying whole lives. And even though God can redeem every soul to hope, far many more will find themselves incapable of escaping the devil’s clutches. So much depression, self-harm, and suicide (among other effects) takes place as a result.

We help them escape the devil’s snare by our plain understanding of their truth; the victim has no case to answer; they have been transgressed; they feel shame when they shouldn’t feel ashamed at all. Perhaps we feel ashamed because we are without the ability to adequately empathise. We should say it. We feel inadequate. That is okay.

Empathy is a meeting of the minds and hearts. A victim simply needs to be heard. And the process of healing is made easier, and, in fact, is perhaps started.

Most of all we should be available to the victim, and even look for the victim in each person we come across. We should be available to the victim inside us. The more we are open to think about these issues, the more we gain a grasp over a necessary empathy to help. The more we do this, the better quality of thought that takes place for helping, and the more functional our helping can be.

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It will always be time to end victim violence. Never will a time come when a perfect end will come, until Jesus comes. But we love best when our hearts extend into the lives, hurts, abuses, and neglects of others.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.