A Silent Song 2
March 1st, 2009 by ComputerBob
This Journal post was originally entitled “Helping Victims Become Survivors - Part 5.”
Regular visitors to this site know that I was a victim of domestic violence, but I have become a survivor.
They also know that I work as a full-time volunteer for a local domestic violence center and shelter. I serve as a legal advocate, care for groups of preschool to teenage children during their mothers’ DV support groups, configure donated PCs to make them safe and secure for survivors to use in their homes, scan and burn CDs of survivors’ Safety Plan documents, pick up and deliver donated food from a local restaurant to the DV center and shelter, and do whatever else anyone at the DV center or shelter needs me to do.
This past Tuesday night, I was helping take care of about 16 children while their mothers attended a support group. I have been doing that every Tuesday night for about the past 5 months. Some of the children there warmed up to me right away, but a few of them have had such traumatic experiences with the adult males in their lives that they still “keep their distance” from me, even after all of these months.
One of those fearful children is a little 2 or 3 year-old boy. He’s a little older than the boy that I described in A Silent Song. He’s generally a sweet kid, but he has a very short attention span and he’s prone to having violent temper tantrums when he doesn’t get his way.
Tuesday night, we were all standing in a circle, playing a “hot potato”-type game. After several rounds of it, I moved from one side of the circle to the other. Without realizing it, I had moved right next to that little boy.
When I saw him standing next to me, I thought that he would probably move away, to put at least one or two children between us.
Instead, he reached over and took my hand in his.
A minute later, he got my attention, looked up at me, and calmly said, “I love you, Mr. Bob.”
I told him that I love him, too.
A few minutes later, he reached up and wanted me to pick him up.
So I held him on my left hip for a few minutes.
Again, he said, “I love you, Mr. Bob.”
And again, I told him that I love him, too.
A few years from now, he probably won’t remember Mr. Bob at all.
But his heart will.
Permalink:
http://www.computerbob.com/wp/a-silent-song-part-2.php
Tags:
Domestic Violence, Inspirational, Personal, Survivors
May 22nd, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Hello Handsome,
It was fun reading your stories today….u are too much, Mr.Bob! Hope you have a great 3 day weekend and we’ll see you Tuesday night.
Jodee