I mentioned in the last post that I want this sight and my book to be safe for people who read them. Here I want to expand on that statement.

One group of people I hope will find safety and a kindred spirit in the words I write is my fellow sufferers of trauma and abuse. A second group is the perpetrators. That might sound strange to you, so let me explain. Both groups of people are held prisoner by their own thoughts, feelings, and reactions. Their memories of the events bind them to silence; and their sense of self takes a terrible blow. I do not excuse or minimize the responsibilities of the perpetrator. I am simply trying to say that they also suffer from their actions, even if nobody ever finds out what they did.

Here my world view comes into play. I recognize that every human being is deeply and severely flawed. We all have the potential to become perpetrators, causing great pain and trauma to others. It is important to differentiate between someone who repeatedly, strategically sets their mind to do harm to others, and the people who unintentionally cause harm.Yet I believe all of us find ourselves in one or both of these groups at some point in our lives. We all desperately need the grace and mercy of our fellow humans, and we all need the mercy and grace of our Heavenly Father.Jesus’s words in the Bible are clear, “Do not judge and criticize and condemn others, so that you may not be judged and criticized and condemned yourselves. For just as you judge and criticize and condemn others, you will be judged and criticized and condemned, and in accordance with the measure you use to deal out to others, it will be dealt out again to you.” Matthew 7: 1,2

No, I will not excuse or minimize the amount of harm a perpetrator brings upon someone else; but I can’t escape the fact that I also am in desperate need of mercy and forgiveness, Therefore I must be committed to the hard and sometimes long process of forgiving my perpetrators. I hope and pray you, dear reader, are able to comprehend what I’m saying.