Speak Up, Save A Life

It is time for me to ask you do to something for me.

Again.

I only want 30 seconds of your time.

You may have seen on other blogs in the last few days, and on Twitter, that Red Magazine are running a campaign called: ‘Speak Up, Save A Life.’

In partnership with the charity Refuge, which provides exactly that to women and children who have been the victims of domestic violence, they are campaigning for a reform which means that every police force in the land will be obliged to work with an independent domestic violence advocate to help advise and safeguard those who would otherwise be at risk of physical violence and possibly death at the hands of their partner or spouse.

Hopefully this will help save lives in the future.

The papers over the last few months have been increasingly full of horrendous news stories about people, usually men, who decide to take their own lives, but think that it may be a good idea to take their families with them, or those who just decide to destroy their families.

It may be that I am overly sensitive to these stories, but there seem to have been a proliferation of them recently, and it is time something was done to help protect innocent people from the people who are supposed to love and cherish them, but end up doing the exact opposite.

I am not at liberty to go into detail on this blog. It is my blog, and I only talk about things that relate to other people’s lives with their specific permission, but I can tell you that this is a topic that is very close to my heart.  One of my oldest friends  has, quite recently,  been deeply affected by the exact issues that I am talking about here.  She, as you can imagine, has been devastated by what has happened. I cannot put into words how sad I feel for her, and how angry I am that this has touched her life.

I know this blog post is not eloquent, or witty. It is stumbling and clumsy, but it is, I hope you can see, heartfelt.

Domestic violence should not happen, but it does.  This is a sad fact.

I would hate to think that were I to be in the unfortunate position of some of these women, that there would be nowhere safe for me and my children to go.  I worry about my children growing up in a world that might be willing to turn a blind eye to domestic violence.  I am their mother, and I want to protect them the best way that I can.  I cannot do it on my own. We need to do it using changes in the law, and by being more aware of what to look for and how to help people who need us.

None of us go into loving relationships thinking that things will turn sour, but when they do, where can we turn, and who will listen if we do not take each other seriously, and help to keep each other safe?

I hope for a better future. I hope for real and positive change.  I might be naive, but I’d rather be naive and proactive, than sitting back and fearing the worst without doing anything.

Please take a minute of your day to sign this petition.  If you can pass it on through Facebook, or Twitter, or by writing your own blog post as well, that would be even better.

Thank you.