IS LOVE REALLY IMPORTANT? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 59

Currently I am reading a book recommended by my son who is in private practice as a Family Therapist in Tokyo.  The book is Emotional Orphans by Cate Shepard.   I became so engrossed in it that I did not put it down until three o'clock this morning.    Immediately the author writes of her true experiences in working with children who have been abandoned, abused, neglected, and the suffering that these kids endure themselves as well as subjecting to their pain and suffering all the people who try to help them.  Thankfully, there are many who are helped.

The one thing that is abundantly clear is that these children do not feel loved and may have never been given any love so lack emotional security.  Fear of abandonment by their own relatives or foster families really renders them almost unable to let anyone near them.  The inhumane treatment that the most innocent among us have received is heart-wrenching and appalling.

Love is most certainly important, and to make the people you care for know that you love them is the greatest gift you can give them.  Equally important is for you to know you are loved.

There was a pastor on television for years whom my dear mother watched weekly.  He always told people who shared their stories with his congregation, "God loves you and so do I."  For those who heard him anywhere in the world and who held religious beliefs, I am sure it was comforting to any who felt alone in this world or were in difficult circumstances.

There is love on this planet for every person.  There is parental love, filial love, friendship love, romantic love, religious love, animal love, and just plain love of all mankind.  If a person withholds love from you then find it from another source.  You need it.  You deserve it, and remember that giving love is as important as receiving it.

Today's message is:

KNOW YOU ARE LOVED!

When Parents Are The Bullies

Perhaps you are tired of me getting on my soapbox to complain about the way some children are abused by the people who should be protecting them. I will stop getting on my soapbox when people stop abusing children. Protecting them is not synonomous with a lack of discipline. Children need boundaries and structure, and with them they will not only behave better but will feel more secure and more loved. They do NOT, however, need to be beaten into submission or tortured by cigarette burns or any other inhumane treatment. Today's news carried a story of a stepfather who allegedly beat his 12-year old stepson AND made him eat two screws (perhaps they are the screws that this guy has loose because no intelligent, mature adult would force a child to eat metal screws). Only a sadistic bully does something like that OR a lunatic! We must all get sick to death of these stories so that we can somehow stop the madness and unbelievable treatment some children are forced to endure. How do we expect these children to grow up and know how to behave and not become bullies themselves? Children learn by example, and I am incredibly appalled at the pitiful examples that some parents, step-parents and guardians are setting for children. Do you have any ideas of what we can do for these poor children? Please share your ideas and comments with me. Child Protective Services cannot handle all of the cases they already have, and as we have read and heard many times they have dropped the ball resulting in deaths of children. Surely there is a solution. Please help find it.