In my reading today, I came across an article about genital mutilation in Egypt. The article, discusses how the culture of genital mutilation and how it is passed down through the generations and carried out by other women while being supervised by the males of their own people. Genital mutilation is not a practice of Egypt alone. According to UNICEF there are multiple countries that are willing to carry on this barbaric ritual in the name of culture and religion while the world legacy of women’s worth continues to strive for some type of equality. How is it possible that such a practice is still alive today, in the millennium? I began to wonder how any abuse is alive in today’s cultures, around the world. What is the meaning behind abuse? Is there exemption from abuse in any part of the world? Who is/are the guilty culprit(s)? Why would anyone subject themselves to abuse or abuse themselves? Is it my place to question other cultures about abuse because of my own observations?
So many questions began to swim through my mind with answers that were vague and yet too specific. The word is much bigger than I can even fathom. So many different types of abuse from abuse of God to abuse of human kind, abuse of children, animal abuse, self-abuse, property abuse and abuse of the environment. The list of types and the consequences of abuse is a never ending parade of trauma and misery. Whether the victim is aware or unaware there will always be painful consequences. Even if the target is a thing or a place or even an idea, there is an ache that may be felt by an individual or the world. Yes, the world. My empathetic sense of justice encouraged me to test my own writing and share the importance of individual observations and how collectively the size of the word abuse may change. How is it that one little word, just five little letters, can have such an immeasurable existence?
There is an irony in (the word) abuse relating to today’s events. The news of the passing of Nelson Mandela brings to light the world’s observation of the abuse that inhabited Mandela’s life. The abuse he suffered and the abuse he fought to end was observed during his life by many around the world.
In case you haven’t guessed, the content in part for this blog has flowed from Encyclopedia of Observations: A Creed for Living Life (“OBES”). This ongoing project is a living entity within itself. Words are defined from experience that is gained from observation. In other words, OBES makes it real.