tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16103538.post6803528874451497126..comments2008-04-15T09:55:54.277-07:00John Doehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05326982429461344063noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16103538.post-61162281983717266892008-04-14T22:44:00.000-07:002008-04-14T22:44:00.000-07:00JD,<BR/>In 1999 the Maryland DSS came to my house and threatened to charge me with "Child Neglect" for not reporting the severe abuse of my wife on my two sons.<BR/><BR/>I said "in a court of law, with a 200 lb 6'3" inch man and a 5' 7" 125-lb woman, and a 'he-said / she-said' case, which of us would go to jail??"<BR/><BR/>With my wife in the house I told them "you are going home in 20 minutes, my sons and myself have to live here".<BR/>An hour later the wife had stabbed me with a steak knife and beaten the 4-yr old in a drunken rage for my comments...<BR/><BR/>Michael ShannonMICHAEL SHANNONnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16103538.post-9367065850925053072008-04-12T13:48:00.000-07:002008-04-12T13:48:00.000-07:00400 years ago a British writer wrote a play.<BR/>When asked waht was needed to return justice and clean the laws of Venice the Prince answered "First, kill all the lawyers".<BR/><BR/>Michael ShannonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16103538.post-81935307285214522402008-04-12T11:44:00.000-07:002008-04-12T11:44:00.000-07:00Anonymous said, I guess you would not wish this on your worst enemy. My worst enemy is my ex. I would imagine that most of you feel the same. Your worst enemy used to be your best friend. I do wish that my worst enemy could go through what I have gone through. Only by going through this, actually experiencing a situation where your children despise you, where you are unable to communciate with them, when every email you send and telephone call you make is returned with absolute and complete silence do you begin to realize what damage you have done to the person that you formerly called your best friend. Do friends do this to one another. No. Enemies do this to one another and in war enemies do horrible damage to one another for stupid reasons.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16103538.post-8330286662259258102008-04-10T17:28:00.000-07:002008-04-10T17:28:00.000-07:00JB, I can well believe everything you say. As for getting the word out, most non-custodial parents are too cowed by the system to speak up. All I feel able to do, for now, is in this blog.<BR/><BR/>As for your other message, you can use and link to my material however you like, but please always point to the source. You are, with your blog, helping to get the word out...John Doehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05326982429461344063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16103538.post-58902874075467659262008-04-10T15:37:00.000-07:002008-04-10T15:37:00.000-07:00It would truly help if you could tell your average citizen what they can do to get the word out.<BR/>About me: I was that (female)victim of DV for 13 years. My daughters were beaten, shoved, choked, thrown, as well as verbally abused. I was everything except hit... that way, he could always say "I have never hit you" and it was true. That's why I stayed for 13 years. <BR/>Afterward-my daughters and I volunteered at a womens shelter; it was part of our own healing. We truly BELIEVED with all our hearts and minds that DV was overwhelmingly perpetrated on women by men. It was in our training material, it is repeated over and over in every venue where DV is mentioned. This MISINFORMATION is constantly repeated as though it is true. I believed it. I had no reason to do otherwise at the time.<BR/>Fast-forward 15 years: a (male) colleague comes to work with bruises and marks all over his face and neck. I realize he has not been at work the past couple of days. This looks familiar to me because of my previous volunteer work. So I ask. And he says "oh I probably deserved it" in a forlorn voice I have heard before... but never from a MAN!! Oh, shocking!<BR/>So I look into it; investigate; learn that he has absolutely NO resources. He has no shelter to go to. He has no way to protect his kids. He cannot leave his home with them for fear of being accused of kidnapping. He cannot leave them behind for fear of losing them (and everything else). He has been living with this nightmare for even longer than I had. My heart breaks.<BR/>Tell the average citizen what they can do. We unintentionally perpetrate the myth that DV is all man-on-woman. We don't mean to. We just don't know better. How do we get the word out????JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09808457499089976449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16103538.post-8933799223692406452008-04-03T19:48:00.000-07:002008-04-03T19:48:00.000-07:00Let me be the first to say, "Don't get over it".<BR/><BR/>And let me ask this. I know you would not have wished your experience on your worst enemy, but after having gone through it, are you now much stronger than you realise?<BR/><BR/>This is the sort of experience that is the making of a new stronger you. Life is not about how much you earn, nor how much you accumulate, and absolutely not what you do or where you live. Life is all about what you experience, what you learn from those experience, and ultimately who you touch with the wisdom of your experience.<BR/><BR/>Your story, shrouded as it is, touched me. Whilst its a good story, it the experience learned in order to write such a story that reaches out to me.<BR/><BR/>I encourage you to do more, say more, reach out more, touch more.<BR/><BR/>One voice can soon become many, and ultimately, its the food that will benefit. Not from one or another right or wrong viewpoint, but from balance, and also that there are many truths in the world, and that not everything is black & white.<BR/><BR/>Well written, and well read.<BR/><BR/>ZAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16103538.post-12380207730882780632008-04-03T19:11:00.000-07:002008-04-03T19:11:00.000-07:00Hi Mate,<BR/><BR/>After reading your rather creative analogy I couldnt help but add a commment to your site. <BR/><BR/>Like you I am a dad who has faced numerous challenges in my quest to fulfill this role.<BR/><BR/>My blog http://misandry-away.blogspot.com has a range of articles with topics I am sure you are familiar with. <BR/><BR/>Anyway keep up the fight, for evil only triumphs when good "men" stand by and do nothing.<BR/><BR/>Cheers<BR/><BR/>GR Klein <BR/>http://misandry-away.blogspot.comGR Kleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293126272160051836noreply@blogger.com