If you have NEVER ....

To all the people who have questioned, criticized, blamed, finger pointed, whispered, gossiped about the various life altering decisions I’ve made over the years, right now please mentally stand up.

If you have NEVER been raped, you may sit down.

If you have NEVER been strangled or choked to near unconsciousness, you may sit down.

If you have NEVER been punched repeatedly by someone who claimed to love you, you may sit down.

If you have NEVER been tortured, you may sit down.

If you have NEVER been pushed down the stairs, you may sit down.

If you have NEVER had someone tell you that unless you leave & never return you will be gang raped, dragged naked through town tied to the back of a truck, then buried under a cement slab in the yard, you may sit down.

If you have NEVER laid awake all night, silent & still, afraid to move or make any sound, you may sit down.

If you have NEVER been sodomized by a person or various other large and painful things, then crawled bleeding & crying to the bath, you may sit down.

If you have NEVER been told that you are a useless waste of space, you may sit down.

If you have NEVER been screamed at & punched in the middle of the night for any or no reason, you may sit down.

If you have NEVER been told that if you’re too “chicken” to kill yourself they’d gladly do it for you, you may sit down.

If you have NEVER had to have surgery to repair damage caused by someone claiming to love you, you may sit down.

If you have NEVER had to hide in your own home until the coast was clear, you may sit down.

If you have NEVER had to stay away from the small people you gave birth to because your life depended on it, you may sit down.

If you have NEVER been kicked in the face while trying to get away, you may sit down.

If you have NEVER been publicly screamed at & humiliated for any or no reason, you may sit down.

If you are still standing, and I’m betting there are none if any left, then you and only you may criticize me. My shoes are awkward, ill-fitting, uncomfortable and not many people that I know could or have walked in them, so until you have, just keep it to yourself because I have enough going on inside my head that I don’t need you in there hammering away too.

Now I’ll sit down, because frankly, I’m exhausted.