Written by Frank Risper
Let me preference my remarks by first saying, I never experienced the act as a child. Growing up in my home, I was not raised to think about striking a female.
I have trouble understanding why a boy or man would do something like hurt a woman. Is it a control thing? Is it a sickness, passed down from generation to generation? Wait a moment, let’s back up a moment. Maybe there is something to that. Suppose you’re a little boy around the age of eight or 10. You witness your mother being hit by your father. You cringe at the sight of the act. This is not the first time that the abuse has happened in front of this little boy. This has happened many times before. The violence continues as the boy gets older. He begins to think that it’s all right to hit females. Is that how it works? Domestic violence is a sickness without a pill on the market to take cure it.
It’s wrong to be abusive, physically or verbally towards any one. The real question is how do we get men to understand that this type of behavior is wrong. Simple. We have to make them understand when they are young men. Starting at the age of three sounds good to me.
We as men have to teach our sons to love and respect women as we do ourselves. That is the only true way to break the cycle of violence.
I have three children, two boys and one girl. I teach my sons not to play rough with my daughter. They understand the wrath that would ensue if they hit her. Their primary goal should be to protect her from harm. On the other hand, I teach her how to defend herself at all times. I am aware that when she grows up there’s a possibility that she may be exposed to a man who was not schooled to love and respect females as a young man or boy. So as you can see, we have problems. We must get to our boys at a young age and be good models for them as men. We also must teach our young women that men who care for them don’t abuse them either physically or mentally. Remember to keep the faith, trust in God only and seek after a pure heart. God will be pleased.
