Be Kind

Abuse is abuse. Period.

Abuse is all up in the news again these days.  There are a pack of nasty adults doing the unthinkable to kids.

As Christians we talk a lot about how sin is sin.  No sin is greater than the other.  There is no sliding scale, even though we like to see it that way.  It's our human nature it seems, to be bent on justification.  We are forever saying to ourselves, well, sure, I did xyz wrong, but it's not as bad as him because he did abc.

An abuser is a bully and a bully is an abuser.  It's all about power, no matter the "issue".

Maybe it's about race.  Maybe it's about your social status.  Maybe it's about your religion.  Maybe it's about your politics.  Maybe it's about your disease.  Maybe it's because you are challenged or handicapped in some way.  Maybe it's about your lover.

Abuse happens to adults and kids.  Sometimes it's physical, sometimes it's not.  Neglect counts.  Words count.  With holding love or support counts.  Abuse can look like a lot of different things, but you know it when you feel it.

We cannot discount each others experiences.  I cannot say to someone, well, your momma didn't beat you with an electric cord so you were never abused by the years of her saying you were stupid.  I can't say to a person, oh well, you weren't raped in the locker room, so enduring years of being called names wasn't abuse.  So what if your family didn't furniture or food because the money went to drugs or alcohol, that's not abuse because no one hit you and your body bears no physical scar.

Yes, they are different, but they are the same.

I don't want any of my kids to be bullied for any reason.  Not because they're short or fat or wear glasses or want a same sex partner or want to practice a non-mainstream religion.  I don't want them bullied because their eyes are slanted or their skin is brown or they are deaf.  I don't want them abused because they are Autistic or walk with a limp or have birth parents in jail.

Just as each one of us is made of a million and one unique distinctions, that leaves us a million and one "reasons" to judge and bully.

Be kind to each other.