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Judge for yourself! How many people do you know who don’t treat their friends, parents, teachers, police, people who serve them in restaurants or grocery stores, and even their employers with the respect with which they, themselves, would like to be treated?
There are times when all of us are guilty of mistreating somebody. Sometimes the mistreatment is accidental; other times it’s planned. Yet few people think of themselves as ABUSERS. That’s because they mistakenly believe that there are only two kinds of ABUSE...physical abuse and sexual abuse. In reality, there are five ways you or someone you know can abuse or be abused:
- PHYSICAL ABUSE
- SEXUAL ABUSE
- MENTAL ABUSE
- VERBAL ABUSE
- EMOTIONAL ABUSE
PHYSICAL ABUSE: People who slap, punch, beat up, shoot, stab, choke, or in any other way cause bodily harm to another person are ABUSERS. So too, are people who block a person’s way when he’s trying to leave a room or a conversation, or break or destroy someone’s things right in front of him. Anyone who threatens to harm anyone else with any kind of weapon is an ABUSER.
SEXUAL ABUSE: This is everything from incest and rape to unwanted sexual touching, vulgar comments, intense pressuring for sex when the other person isn’t interested or has said NO. It also includes making a female pregnant against her will, and running out on her should she become pregnant.
These two kinds of ABUSE in particular result in a great amount of pain, fear, frustration and fury. They make their victims feel helpless and hopeless.
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