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It is not the bruises on the body that hurt.
It is the wounds of the heart
and the scars on the mind.
Aisha Mirza

In honor of Shelley who shared her story, I thought we should focus on Domestic Violence in today’s Wednesday Whoa.

According to the The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) about 20 people are physically abused by their partner every minute.  Every MINUTE.  That’s 1200 every hour, 28,800 every day and more than 10 million every year.  That’s just in the United States alone.  There are over 20,000 calls to Domestic Violence Hotlines daily.

1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have been victims of some type of domestic physical abuse.  That means you know or are someone who has been in an abusive relationship.  I not only know women who’ve been in and gotten out of abusive relationships, in my early 20’s, I was one of those women.  I was lucky.  I got out.  A friend did not.  She was beaten to death by her ex-boyfriend.

What about these numbers?  11,766.  That’s the number of women killed between 9/10/2001 and 6/6/2012.  That number is greater than the combined number of people killed by terror attacks in the US (3073) during that time period and the number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan during that time (2002) and the number of soldiers killed in Iraq (4486) during that time period.   Where is the real war?

If you are in the US and need help and are in immediate danger call 911.  Otherwise, for confidential assistance, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE) or  1-800-787-3224 (TTY).

If you wish to know more about Domestic Violence you can visit the NCADV website.  There are resources to help you understand what the signs of domestic violence are, how you can help and how you can get help if you are in an abusive relationship.