The essay by Sam Hamill entitled "The Necessity to Speak", is completely full of emotion and hard hitting facts. I never knew some of these facts until I read this essay. I agree with him on many points that he makes in his essay. I also disagree with some of his points. What I really agree with is the fact that women are disrespected and battered in this country, that equality is still not on the level it should be. Women can be just as valuable as men, and it sickens me when they are treated as inferior. I love that he just comes right out and speaks about it openly, where many can't speak about it. Even after he experienced being raped and battered, and being the batterer, the way he can speak up about such issues with conviction and control is commendable.
I love his stance on abortion and the killing of unborn babies. I agree whole-heartedly with the fact that he refers to them as unborn children, as living creatures not just a fetus. I also agree with the fact that parents need to be more active in the parenting of their children, talking to and educating them about sex. If parents sat down and talked to their kids about this, it would reduce the amount of teenage pregnancies, which would reduce the amount of abortions in this country. Mr. Hamill hit it right on the head when he talked about how a girl who hasn't been properly educated in sex and love can easily fall in love with a batterer. Mr. Hamill goes on and talks about what the kids learn in the home they will carry on with them through life. If they see battering in the house, they will grow up to be battered (because that is the life they know and are drawn to) or they will grow up to be a batterer (because that is all they know how to do).
The facts that I don't agree with Mr. Hamill on is spanking of children. I was spanked growing up, and there is a fine line between spanking and abuse. If you are leaving marks on your child, if you are making them bleed, and leaving them to cry, you are abusing them. If you are spanking them, leaving no physical damage on their body, and you explain in full why they are experiencing that pain, they can learn and grow from it as I did. I turned out very well, and I know the difference. The reason some people are against spanking is because they have only experienced or they only know about abuse. It saddens me to see anyone go through abuse, and reading this essay really makes me remember the stories my mom told me about her childhood and the sexual and emotional abuse she suffered.
Relating this essay to the poems we were required to read this week can be easily done. In some of those poems, namely "Charlie Howard's Descent", you can feel the pain in that poem and relate it to physical and emotional abuse and torture suffered at the hands of others. Charlie Howard had been abused and mocked. He was made fun of and eventually killed. The violence that we see imaged in this poem is some of the same violence Mr. Hamill is speaking about in his essay. I can see the correlations, and I can see what both men felt like as they were being tortured. This essay was definitely eye opening and heart touching. I probably will never forget it for the rest of my life.
This link explores in more detail the statistics regarding domestic violence. The numbers are shocking. http://new.abanet.org/domesticviolence/Pages/Statistics.aspx
The visual I provided is a YouTube video posted by CBS (The network station). It is a short clip talking about a domestic violence case that was all over the news. I posted it not only so people can see the story, but also because it gives great reminders to get involved when you think someone is being abused. If you don't, that person could pay a huge price.
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