Aminah M - A Silenced Cry (domestic violence)

Aminah Muhammad
English 2
Mr. Dalsis
UPSM

A Silenced Cry

               As you open the door on your way home from school, you breathe a heavy sigh of concern, irritation, and hurt. There's glass everywhere and your mom is weeping with bruises and blood all over her body. Your stepfather is punching her as she yells for help and begs him to stop. You've tried to stop the chaos before, but just made it worse, so you run upstairs to your room. For the rest of the night, you cry and cry as you listen to your mother's helpless pleas, asking him to stop...... He doesn't until two hours later... What are the causes of domestic violence? What are the short and long term effects on it to the people in the situation? This is what my cause and effect essay will be about.

Causes: Why Did He Hit Her In the First Place.....?

              A lot of times people hurt their loved ones because of something that happened to them in their younger years. One cause could be that they were abused as a child by someone that meant a lot to them, like their mom or dad. When they get older, they turn on the world and think that they can make themselves feel better by making someone who loves them feel small and powerless. But, the truth is, it's only making things worse. People like this need counseling and some other way to get their anger out. Another cause could be that they have low self-esteem or they are jealous of their partner. When your jealousy goes too far, you try to make sure the one you're jealous of has NOTHING. That way, you have power over them. My last cause is that they are alcoholics and they do things without thinking because they are drunk or high from drugs.

Short Term Effects: The Physical Scars

               Of course, right after the victim of a violent situation is abused, they are bruised and scarred up. Sometimes they might just have a small scratch or a black eye, but other times they have more serious things. These are things that they really should be going to the hospital for, like being shot, stabbed, punched one too many times, among other things. But they are afraid to go to a medical facility because 1) their abuser will be angry they left the house at all or 2) the doctors and nurses will ask what happened, and if they tell their partner hurt them, the abuser will beat them even worse. 

Long Term Effects: The Mental Scars, the Children

               One of the worst effects are on the children. In most situations, domestic violence is not a one time thing. As a child, your life from birth until the time you get out of your parents' home are like a total nightmare. You run away, you try to protect your mom and get hurt yourself, or you stay and have to watch the person you care about the most attempt to survive in a living hell. Because of this, children of abusers often grow up to be abusers themselves because they don't know how to love, and all they have ever seen is causing pain to another person. Another long term effect is on the victim. They are scared to death about their abuser coming after them and think they have no choice but to stay. They want to be there for their children and be a hero. But the truth is that it's just not that easy.

Conclusion

               I had a friend who came to school one day with a really bad scar on his neck. He always went to the social worker and never told me and my other friends what was going on at home. One of our teachers finally told us what happened. My friend's mother was getting abused by his dad, and he tried to help her. His dad ended up stabbing him in the neck. We all felt that this could never happen in real life, but reality hit us. If you know someone who is in a situation like this, go to an adult for help, and try to get police or something to help them. You don't have to call 911 or anything, but let someone know what's going on without getting too involved because it's not your business. But, you could really save someone's life.