Stop Saying I’m Strong Because I Left Him
And stop comparing me to other survivors
Sometimes, I want to record the things people say. They act as the basis of my strength that I didn’t choose to stay.
That’s not a compliment.
If domestic violence was so simple, don’t you think we would have solved it by now? Women don’t enjoy being slapped around, and this one’s for the men who their women have beaten. I know you’re out there, and you’re not forgotten.
Is she weaker than me because she’s dead? Because she couldn’t run and so she never got to see tomorrow? Is she pathetic because she has kids? No decision’s easy when it feels like every second is borrowed from the next day and the next next day; eventually, we run out of time. Stop telling me I’m strong because I left him. Did you know he still lives in my mind?
I’m done with the comparisons to other survivors; when it comes to abuse, there’s no first prize, no blue ribbon, no trophy, no gold star. Some of us made it out, but we all have scars. I didn’t run away just so an acquaintance could tell me that I was something special because I chose to leave.
Chose to leave?
Now I grieve for lost years when people saw and heard, stood by, and did nothing. It took me eight years to leave my…
