Color Me Butterfly

I love fall.  I love the orange yellow glow of the trees, the mounds of leaves that need sweeping, the smell of cinnamon and pumpkin, the chill that breaks the muggy air and the season that brings families together and much joy.  I also love fall for another reason…  It is a season for change in every aspect of our lives.  Especially the lives of those who fall victim to abuse.  October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month!

This time every year, advocates join forces with government, private and public sectors to raise awareness about domestic and sexual violence.  This is a time to encourage discussion and dialogue about the perils of domestic and sexual violence; a time to raise awareness in areas that it’s least talked about, to foster encouragement for hope and to give those who fall victim to this horrible epidemic a chance for change. 

I believe that although October is a grand month to raise awareness, that we should not celebrate this once a year; that domestic violence awareness month needs to be every month, every week, every day.  That our focus should not only reach the heights in October if we are ever going to make the kind of change that needs to be made in order to drastically reduce or even eliminate the number of those who fall victim to this. We must make Domestic Violence Awareness Month every day… Every day it must be scrolled in our calendars, our minds and our hearts.

How can we achieve this?  Well, I believe the only way to achieve it is to first make it required education – in the workplace, in the medical sector, in our school system, in the church, in every facet of our lives.  I think almost everyone knows something about breast cancer awareness because of the fine job that the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation has done to raise awareness about this disease.  Everywhere you go, you see the pink ribbon if not something else pink.  Almost everyone is aware of this fight against breast cancer.  Similarly, we need to have the same level of focus and fight against domestic violence. 

We can start to have that fight if each one of us were to do our part.  If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence; or if you just want to help… do your part today!  It’s as simple as telling somebody or talking about it within your family or close circles. 

My prediction is that if each one of us were to tell one other person… who knows how quickly we can raise awareness and perhaps even save a life!