Abuse is a horrible thing. It takes someone you love, and turns them into a monster. They'll hurt you, and you won't understand what you did wrong. You'll sit there and take it because you feel you deserve it. People get abused every day, and so very few of them actually get help. They hide the bruises, the cuts, the wounds. They hide their pain because they feel ashamed that they feel they can't be helped because they deserve it. If you suspect someone is being abused, call the police, and try to help them, even if you think they'll hate you for it. Be someone that can help them, and don't ever turn your back on them. Some cases of abuse are less drastic than what happened in the paragraphs above, but all are extremely damaging.
Most people believe it's usually the man who abuses, but the woman is just as capable as abusing their family. In my case, it was my mother. She would hit Dad, and me. They only one she wouldn't hit was my sister, Alora. People should be aware that just because men are seen as stronger, doesn't mean that a woman can't hurt them. Most men don't want to hurt the woman, so they let the woman hit them, because a woman hurting a man isn't really seen as domestic abuse to most people. They don't bother trying to get help for themselves, because they're afraid of being seen as weak.
Emotional abuse, physical abuse, neglect, all of them are damaging. They cause the victim to have a hard time trusting the people that love them, and they have a hard time opening up to people. They might continue the cycle of abuse, or they could be so afraid that they'll become an abuser that they avoid everyone that gets to close to them. They could turn out perfectly fine. It really depends on how they live, and who they are or who they were raised by. Now, just by looking at me, some people can tell I have a special kind of strength, received by perseverance.
The people who go through abuse are in a dark place, that only gets worse as time goes on if no one helps them. There is not light, the black of their sadness just keeps getting blacker. If they make a friend, they'll fight for them, to the point where they'll get hurt, and then their friend will give up on them, and leave them to the dark that closes in every time they're alone. People say to stay away from people who are in that darkness, but those are the people who need friends the most. Those people are usually very loving and compassionate, but they're also very sensitive. Giving up on these people because they're suicidal just makes them so much worse. The dark place goes to the point where they don't want to leave, for fear they'll get hurt again. They hide their emotions to the extent that they act happy, alive, joyful, but they're not. If you give up on someone who is or was suicidal, I hope they don't die because of your ignorance of them.
