"Affirmation" life can deal us some nasty times, harsh, unforgiving, painful, cruel situations and events. we have the choice, although we rarely see this, but we do have the choice to lay down and die inside or stand tall and strong and yell out, I AM NOT A VICTIM! oh, we can be and often are victimized ... but to stay in that victim mode, makes our perpetrator the winner. to stay the victim keeps us from growing, healing, learning. it says that he/she is stronger than we are. that he/she deserves more than we do. that he/she is worth more than we are. that is simply NOT true. it is not true. what happened to us, was outside our control. we hold NO guilt, shame or blame. it was done TO us, NOT BY us. sometimes, most of the time ... what we do to ourselves after the fact is ofttimes worse than what was done to us. we suddenly believe lies about ourselves. who we are ... what we are. we doubt our own worth, our own love-ability. we even doubt our own sanity at times. I am a survivor! of incest by a family member, of domestic violence, of ovarian cancer, of rape by someone I knew. I am a survivor! my life will never be what it was. my hopes, my dreams, my very being ... all of me has changed. yet ... yet if I choose to stay the victim, I lose. I lose all that I am now. all that I will ever be. all that I am meant to be. it's hard to stay here, to live with all the memories. the pain, the ugliness, the destruction and loss. I know how hard it is to find a reason to get out of bed every morning, to find a reason to hope and dream again. but ... if we don't stand and yell out. I AM NOT A VICTIM! I, AM A SURVIVOR! then they win ... and we lose our lives. haven't we lost enough? take back your power. take back the love you held close to your heart ... the love you held for yourself. believe in yourself, and in your strengths. believe in trust again ... trust for yourself. believe that you are lovable, precious, unique. we are not alone ... and at the end of the darkness ... the light does shine again.   GlassPoet, © 1997

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Affirmation has been published throughout the USA and is used in counseling and support groups. J.A. Stroud

"The Wounded Child" an excerpt

Black and Blue The Cycle of Violence

WARNING: This is about child abuse and it's aftermath and may elicit a disturbing emotional reaction.