Love Should Not Hurt

Domestic violence.

Damn. Those words hit hard.

This week has been hard.

Did you know that 20 people in the United States a minute are experiencing physical harm due to domestic violence?

Did you know that the presence of weapons escalates the danger of domestic violence by 500%?

Did you know that only 34% of all domestic violence victims seek medical help for the injuries they receive?

Did you know that 25 million people in the United States have been stalked in their lifetime?

Did you know that 72% of all murder suicides involve the death of an intimate partner?

Did you know that 94% of those victims are females?

I don’t expect most of you to know this facts off the top of your head.

However, for those of us who work in the advocacy field, we see these statistics playing out in front of our eyes.

And we feel the pain.

And we cry for the victims.

And we pray for their survival.

Because did you know that a domestic violence victim often will return to the violent partner an average of seven times before they leave for good?

We don’t judge.

We know it’s not their fault.

We know the psychological hold their abusers have on them.

And still we work.

Everyday.

Because we believe that LOVE should not hurt.

~Rebecca Martin

©️silentlyoutloud

07/30/2023

*all statistics verified by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

"She stays because the fear of leaving is stronger than the fear of staying. She will leave when the fear of staying is stronger than the fear of leaving." -Rebecca Burns