No matter how long I speak about ending Teen Dating violence and ending Domestic violence in all it’s forms, I keep coming back to education.
Education is key.
Are you an educator? (BTW – The correct answer is yes.) If you have a mouth…you have the ability to educate. If you can communicate…you can educate! 
Here’s something that happened to me while I was talking to incoming freshman at a local high school:
A woman came up to me at a back to school night the other day and broke into tears when she saw the club I was representing. She hugged me and then wiped off her mascarra running down her cheeks. She explained that her husband brutally beat her for many years until one day he was arrested and ordered to go to a class that taught men how not to be the men that society tells them they have to be. This was back in the early 90’s. When he got out of the classes he apologized and said he never knew that this power and control struggle was not the right thing to do. He never realized that this was not how a relationship was suppose to work. She told me that maybe if there were classes and clubs and awareness like this going on back then, there’d be a lot less violence and beatings in the world. Her husband died of cancer a year later and she said it was the best year of their marriage. She wanted me to remember one thing: “Many of the abusers of the world are just little people who have never been taught the right thing and have never been made aware of it. The more education and awareness about what a good relationship is, will save millions.” Then she said thank you and walked away.
Could education be this powerful? Could this woman and this man have had a wonderful marriage if he had been taught something earlier in his life…well the answer is simply: YES!
To many of us the violence we see on a day to day basis is simply wrong. We have a very hard time trying to understand 
why someone would commit these senseless acts of violence. Then when they bring these violent actions into the home in front of the kids and everyone else who shares the home, we think this is atrocious and horrible. How could this person not see that it was obviously wrong?
Because when you see your uncle doing it, your grand pa doing it, your dad doing it, your brother doing it, your neighbor doing it, your teacher doing it, your role models doing it, and every TV show you turn on says that it’s ok….suddenly it makes sense that it must be ok. This is the anatomy of socialization and only EDUCATION will change that and turn it around.
How are you educating the young people around you?
Opt 4 more education.
Opt 4 showing boys that they don’t have to be like that.
Opt 4 showing girls that they don’t have to be as violent as everyone else.
opt4 
Education is key. I grew up in a culture where men are more dominating and have dominating characteristics. It is in their “nature” to be this way as they like to say. But I definitely disagree. The men in my culture are mostly the same. Probably an exception of a few that I know of. They are aggressive when they speak, loud, demanding, and look at woman as an object that will fulfill their lives because they “need” her. They have been taught to feel this way and definitely pass it along. I cringe when I hear people say “it is part of culture, this is how it is”. (By the way I speak about the Middle Eastern culture). It is sad to say that women in this culture accept the emotional and phsyical abuse by the men of this culture. I know some will hate me for exposing the truth, but of course the truth always hurts when it is true. Thank you for sharing.
Wow! Thank YOU for sharing. You have put yourself on the line…and I admire that more than you know. For a very long time I have stated that we are not trying to end violence or end sexism, we are changing the fabric of the culture that permeates in our world. At some point a very very long time ago, the idea of a controlling patriarchy took over our world and infused itself into our lives. It is our job to unravel that weaving and reweave it into a culture of understanding, acceptance, and happiness. Thank You for speaking out. Thank you for posting the articles you do. The more who hear and come to the message, the less violence and abuse there will be!
I agree, there is a lot on the line. But I am sick of people constantly telling me this is how life is. My whole idea of creating my blog is to speak up because not many women in my position or close to it speak up.nthere is a constant fear of losing everything you have when you stand up to the ones controlling. It is definitely about Changing the mind set of how our behaviors should be. Both men and women need to come to this realization because some women accept a lot of abusive behaviors.
VERY TRUE!!! Thank you for that! Watch the blog for a more well written, more poignant response….your comments have inspired it! Thank you so very much for doing what you are doing, the blog you are writing, and no doubt the outspoken comments in public. you are inspiring more people than you realize!