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Writer's pictureSparkling Diamond

Connecting The Dots of Abuse

Updated: Sep 6, 2023




Just sharing my ponderings...please be respectful with your comments....


I saw this post the other day and I thought about how well they take care of their horses. Yesterday I saw a reel about a giant of a horse who had been rescued from the killpen at an auction put there by an Amish farmer. A while ago I had been looking at horses for sale and stumbled across a story about the New Holland sales stables and some of the horses that come through there from Amish and Mennonites and how sick and starved some of them are and have to be put down because of it. I remember reading about puppy mills and how horrible some plain people treat their animals, (for example ramming a pipe down their throat to debark them). I also remembered how at a seminar I learned how that if there's abuse in the home there's usually abuse on another level as well such as animal abuse. As I was thinking about these things and the memories I have from how my dad treated animals leaving me traumatized I also remembered the bad rap the humane society was given. I remember my parents talking about my uncle who was raising dogs and how they were told to do different things they thought was unnecessary, such as brush the dogs' teeth daily. I remember my parent's conversation about it and how it was portrayed the humane society as trespassing and sticking their noses into other people's business and pet owners being mocked behind their backs for loving their pets and taking care of them. One phrase I remember was "well, you know what dog spells backwords" implying that people make gods out of their dogs. Looking back now I am glad I'm learning different better ways, thanks to Take Heart Counseling & Equine Assisted Therapy


Tonight while at work, I was pondering all these things and and knowing the work of #abetterway and Hope Anne and I began to wonder how many if any people might be making the connection between the way most Amish and Mennonite people treat their animals and the extremely high levels of abuse that are hidden beneath the "plain dressing and seemingly peace loving" Anabaptists. A lot of people think their ways are so unique and they would love to live like that but what they don't realize is that it is a patriachial culture that is loaded with abuse and so often the church says we'll deal with it on our own and the perpetrators can keep right on going, leaving even higher numbers of traumatized victims in their wake. So many people defend the perpetrators and stand up for them leaving the victims with no support and worse yet being blamed for it all. When I was still in the culture it was normal but the more I learn and the more I heal the more I see how wrong and unbiblical this culture is in a lot of ways. Yes there's sincere and good people scattered among the bad and there's nothing wrong with living that way but the twisted teachings twist what would be good and freeing and healing and turn it into tradition, gaslighting, and threatening to brainwash people into staying inside the box.


And now my question at the end of this is: how many people are making the connection between the abused animals coming from plain owners and the level of abuse that is possibly going on for the children or wife in the home? What would happen if every animal was traced to its owner and the situation investigated, not just for the animals but also for the children or other dependants in the household? How many perpetrators would be brought to the light?


You see, animals are just seen as property and I've seen some pretty gruesome stuff...but so are the children (in some families). This was the feeling I had most of my life. There was no emotional connection. Work was more important than me as a person. And I'm by far not the only one who felt that way growing up. There's so many more children and animals suffering out there...hidden from public view... I think about this almost every time I see or interact with a plain person. It's always in the back of my mind...


You may say, oh you're just exaggerating...but no I am not...the victims are hidden behind plain dresses and suspenders. They are hidden behind drug prescriptions. They are hidden behind the numerous and on the rise facilities by their own people determined to keep the victims silent and the perpetrators out of jail because they dont want it to ruin their "witness and light" to the world.


The more I am learning about trauma responses, I see it in some of my plain coworkers...and I wonder...wonder so many things but I also feel helpeless... helpless to even know where to start....except for one thing: I need to heal first so that I don't continue the cycle...


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