It seems that I am not the only one who is unsure of what to bring to the Authorities and what is considered ‘evidence’ or if you have the right knowledge or if it is not first hand but rather hearsay.
What I want to impress upon all who read this blog, is that we each carry a parcel of evidence, and each part whether it be large or small, first hand or was told to us by victims or friends of victims, we are all carrying some evidence.
Evidence we believe in.
It doesn’t have to be bold and in detail, it can be that you too have heard about the character of this man or this woman.
They are all, as we are all, presumed pure until told otherwise, until enough folks can say something to the contrary.
Each of us has a ruler to gauge people and each of us have bumped into unsavory characters, and what most of us fail to do, me included is follow through and speak up, alert not only friends and family, but authorities.
The authorities we have to presume are NOT knowing or hearing what we are, they are in the dark and it is up to us to show them were to shine their lights, to investigate and look into the well being of the people, we are fearful for.
If someone had pressed the issue way back when my father was molesting his daughters and all of our friends, it wouldn’t have taken a great detective to canvas our neighborhood and collect evidence from the girls living there.
We keep thinking we need to work this from the bottom up, to find a child willing to say something, but that is not our job. We are not the investigators; we don’t have to have a complete file of evidence to alert the authorities.
Our job as citizens of the world is to alert the authorities of folks we have information on, whether it be first hand or second, but if you believe it…it needs to be handed over to authorities.
As the saying goes. “All it takes for evil to continue is for good folks to do nothing.”
It matters not if you are articulate, if what you have heard seems small, it all adds up to the complete story; a story told from a variety of angles. It can be your personal experience or how you heard.
They need Not just one viewpoint or one age, not just from folks within the church, but from those on the outside. Not just the family and friends, but friends of family and friends. We all have a thread that will make up the tapestry of who these people really are.
They have created an elaborate shield that deflects their criminal behaviors. We each can tug and pull on one thread that will reveal to all just who lies beneath.
Somehow our minds have us convinced that we will spot this action happening, that we have to see it with our own eyes, before we can pass on information. You need not have the whole picture, but one piece of the puzzle.
Again, we are not the detectives; we can’t arrest them, or take them to the court of the land. It is our job to help the detectives. We know what they don’t know.
And if you know enough to believe it and you don’t share it, you are adding and abetting the crime.
The only ones who are free from guilt in this are the ones who don’t know.
If you don’t know, you can’t know.
But, once you know, you can’t not know.
And if you know and are holding it safe within, you are doing each pedophile a great big favor. Their sickness breathes on your silence.
I was even more devastated by mother, for she was okay knowing and doing nothing for me. Nothing. I was left alone to tend my wounds, to make right my upside down world. For I have very little memories, but I do have one, me showing my mother my hurting bottom. I was little, way little. I didn’t know why I kept that one odd memory. But now I do. I showed her and nothing was done. She didn’t leave him. Forty years later, my niece says her Grandpa touched her.
Silence and doing nothing kept him going from girl to girl.
If you believe it, believe that your silence will deliver to him/her another child to abuse. For my experience with my father shows the trail.
I had evidence that his sickness began years ago.
The detectives need past histories, not just what is going on today, they need to see a pattern emerging. The more who come forth, the more chances his/her case will go to trial. They need to hear that this ‘story’ is being told far and wide, it comes from people of all ages…
The less that comes forth, the more chances his/her reign will be like my fathers…40 years and way too many little girls!
What I know for sure is that I will not be the one sitting holding my evidence while a child’s innocence hangs in the balance.
I will not be like my neighbors or other members of the church and withhold evidence. What I heard will be passed on. Not in the rumor mill, but to the ones who have the power to help the children.
No matter how my evidence is taken by the law, I know that I have done my part.
It is not how you say, but that you say it.
