Open Letter to:
Sieglinde
W. Alexander
Adults Abused as Children Worldwide
P. O. Box 105
Nicolaus,
CA 95659 USA
email: admin@aaacworld.org
August 15,
2004
In regards to the publication "Wounds
that will not heal"
The Age - Melbourne, Victoria, Australia,
August
15, 2004
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/14/1092340530630.html
Dear
Senator Murray,
I would like to greet you with utmost respect for addressing
the world's biggest and most hidden secret.
Although you address in your
statement "Wounds that will not heal" mainly the victims in Australia,
your words are heard by adults abused as children worldwide. While some nod their
heads in agreement, hope is rising, that one day one of their senators will make
the same statement and restore the dignity they have lost through abuse in childhood.
In the meantime, others may have surrendered into despair.
In the name of
the ones who have been abused as children in many ways and later as adults humiliated
and labeled, I say thank you for validating their endurance and pain.
At
this point, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Sieglinde Alexander founder
of Adults abused as Children Worldwide. I was born in 1949 and reared in Germany
and immigrated 1991 to the United States of America. I experienced severe abuse
in childhood through my parents and other adults. Later as a teen, the endurance
of emotional and physical abuse continued in a religious institute for unruly
girls.
The healing of my wounds begun in 1992. At the same time I dedicated
my life to validating others who are still carrying the pain of mental and physical
abuse inflicted by adults.
The purpose of my work is to bring awareness of
how trauma negatively imprints a child and how adults struggle later with the
stifling effects - physically, mentally, economically and socially. Still they
must continue their lives somehow in spite of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
anxiety and many other severe disorders.
While raising my voice for the
voiceless I had to face the evidence of another reality. The abuse continues in
form of disrespect, labeling, and burn marking the ones who are still enduring
the pain of their childhood.
There is no law worldwide that recognizes or protects
these wounded people. On the contrary the are labeled, shamed and blamed again
with remarks such as "forget the past and get on with your life and become
a productive citizen". As you have seen for yourself, it is not the abused
holding onto a painful past, it is the violent imprint of the past that reappears
subconciously in our action and interaction. While many struggle with flashbacks
of their early-inflicted traumas, others surrender and powerlessly give up the
fight for a naturally healthy life.
I would like to support your statement:
"Politicians and policy-makers have to understand the scale and effects of
child abuse." With this statement you set an important political mark in
history. Not that I believe the law can heal the trauma but Australia could be
the second country in the world who publicly acknowledges its childhood abused
citizens.
As you may know many governements in the world attempt to limit
childhood abuse without success. The reason is, politicians are unaware of the
roots of abuse and why it is continuing in spite of all efforts. If all in power
had your awareness, they would see that in all cases it is the effect of earlier
abuse. It is the adult, who never has had a chance to heal their wounds, who will
repeat the pattern of their childhood. Thus, abuse is self-perpetuating and guarantees
more mentally and physically dysfunctinal adults who will treat the next generation
with the abused they learned in their early childhood.
So far, every country
in the is world has a law that protects children. Child abuse is considered a
crime in 38 countries around the world. But the same laws that punish the perpertrators
for their crime, evaporates as soon as the child reaches adult age. Not that I
believe the law can heal any trauma. It would, however acknowledge that a crime
has been committed without subsequent justice. In addition it would validad the
victims' endurance, because they cannot legally defend their rights and restore
their dignity. There are no laws that supports their right.
My letter to you
is a plea to continue your efforts because you are validating fellow human beings
who will otherwise be labled, stigmatized and their integrity disgraced once again.
Indeed there are wounds that may never heal completely. However, the healing of
some painfull wounds from the past can begin when we recognize with empathy the
existence of the ones who carry them and provide effective therapy. If we do not
help the insured today, provide the help they need, we have no choice but to pay
more for building costly prisons and provide more welfare to the mentally disabled.
As the odds are that history will repeat itself and eventually there will be no
one left who can reminisce about a naturally happy childhood because violence
will dominate.
Again I would like to thank you for publicly expressing your
empathy which awakens worldwide hope in the hopleless, that one day your efforts
will show itself as a ripple effect on the rest of the world.
My sincere
regards,
Sieglinde W. Alexander
Adults Abused as Children Worldwide
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