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In the News
This anthological book includes such noted authors as: Ken Blanchard, Mark Victor Hansen, Les Brown, Dorothy M. Neddermeyer, et al. Read more... Feature ArticleHow To Keep Your Resolutions and Achieve Your Goals - The New Year has begun. Many people have already broken their New Year’s resolutions. Surveys reveal that 25% of people will break their New Year’s resolution within the first week of making it. Are you among the 25%?  Blog Info Subscribe to our RSS feed |
Feature ArticleObfuscation Rules the World... Obfuscation-to cloud over; obscure; make dark; or unclear; to muddle;
confuse; bewilder. [Webster's New World Dictionary, 1982, P 980] Why, am I talking about this mundane topic? The topic is a simple example of what we, as managers of our society, have decided is acceptable criteria for addressing or solving any societal issue. For any societal issue to be addressed, a study needs to be done, statistics submitted and criteria for addressing the issue developed. Herein lies the dilemma, who decides what the criteria needs to be on any given issue? And who decides the best method to gather data which is unbiased and/or accurate? You guessed it researchers, submitting data to politicians, government officials (elected or appointed), and people who have a vested interest in the issue. Insidiously, the vested interest might not be to benefit the afflicted. The intended topic of this article is-violence, rape, spousal abuse, physical or sexual child abuse. Violence, rape, spousal abuse, physical or sexual child abuse is society's worst scourge. Why? Because we have created and sanctioned the same obfuscation system which rules traffic light installation. Contrary to a car crash at an intersection, these scourges impacts everybody's life for many years, rather than only the few who have a car crash at a particular intersection. It is tragic we use the same methods to determine whether we need to address these societal issues. -62% of females are sexually abused by age 18. Finkelhor, David
and J. Dziuba-Leatherman. "Victimization of Children."
American Psychologist Vol. 49:3 (1992): 173-183. In the U.S. in 2000 over 3 million child abuse and neglect reports were filed and one million were confirmed. There are 3,000 children abused each day and four of them will die. Forty percent of these children were under the age of six. The age group with the highest abuse rate is 0-3 years. Nationally the highest form of abuse is neglect followed by physical abuse. In March of 2001 when President Bush declared April National Child Abuse Prevention Month he stated the cost of child abuse and neglect in the U.S. was $258 million dollars a day. This includes the price of intervention, the treatment of children who have been emotionally, physically or sexually abused as well as the indirect costs of the long term consequences both for the child and our society. Prevent Child Abuse America. In 2000, there were 261,000 victims of rape, attempted rape or
sexual assault. Dr. Frank Putnam of the National Institute of Mental Health and
Dr. Martin Teicher of Harvard Medical School studied 170 girls,
6-15 years old--half had experienced corporal punishment, half had
not--for seven years. The girls who experienced corporal punishment
had symptoms such as: Judith Herman, M.D. author, Father-Daughter Incest undeniably confirms obfuscation abounds with regard to protecting woman and children from society's worst scourge: "As in the case of other crimes against women and children, for too long the power of the justice system has protected the men who victimized them... As long as the justice system remains a male preserve, it can hardly be expected to reform itself... The initiative for those reforms that have already been carried out has come almost entirely from women: from the rape counselor, the child advocate, and the small minority of women who work within the system-we look forward to a time when women, who are so frequently the victims and rarely [research reveals women are more frequently the offender than previously reported] the offenders, adjudicate the majority of domestic and sexual crimes." Statistics and studies notwithstanding, physical and sexual abuse and incest against female victims is so common it can be considered an epidemic. Claire R. Reeves, President/Founder of MASA (Mothers Against Sexual
Abuse) says, it best in her foreward to-If I'd Only Known...Sexual
Abuse in or out of the Family: A Guide to Prevention, Dorothy M.
Neddermeyer, in her statement: In summary, we can not afford to continue to do the same thing over and over and expect different results. Voltaire said, "We are not only responsible for what we do, but also, for that what we don't do." Sartre stated, "Those who ignore the past are condemned to repeat it." We have been ignoring information regarding the aftereffects from violence since the beginning of time. To continue to ignore these aftereffects is being part of the problem and the purveyor of obfuscation. It is never too late to change what isn't working. |
Thoughts to PonderWhen you know that what you're doing is right, nothing will be able to stop you. When you are absolutely convinced of the true value of your efforts, you'll have the courage and the persistence to see them through. To believe in what you're doing is not just important. It is everything. Anything less cannot possibly succeed. For any accomplishments you reach while living a lie will ultimately be of no value. It is not always easy to live true to your highest values, true to your authentic self, true to what you know is right. Yet it is always your best choice. When you deny what you know is right in order to follow the expediency of the moment, the benefits you gain are trivial and fleeting. Choose instead to live each moment true to the highest values you know. Then, who you become will be the fulfillment of who you truly are. Why would you ever want to be anything less? —Ralph Marston
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