One of the worst things about being abused by a well-liked member of the community is that no one believes you when you come forward about the abuse. They say that itâs all in your head, that maybe you make that person act that way, or that your are lying. When in fact, you know how that person is, how awful the way they treat you is, but because of you being belittled by others, you tell yourself that itâs not bad, that maybe it is your fault, that everyone else seems to like them, so you should to.
I feel like that with my dad. I tried to get help from my aunt, but she told me that he âwould never do that, he is just going through a rough time at work.â He would call me names, hit me, make me extremely uncomfortable, destroy some of my belongings, say that my accomplishments didnât mean anything, yell at me until he was blue in the face, and that I was trash compared to my sister. My sister could do no wrong in the eyes of my father. For the past five years of my life, he has said that I wasnât his daughter. At first, I told myself that this was just a game of his, it wouldnât last long, but as the weeks turned into years, I realized that he really meant it. Every person that I talk to seems to know my dad, and they all say the same thing âOh, youâre _____âs daughter! He is such a great man, youâre lucky to have him as a dad!â I just have to smile and agree with them, because if I didnât, word would get back to him and I would be punished. I donât talk a lot about the hitting, itâs really hard to talk about... Sometimes he would push me across the room, hit me with a door, slap me, punch me, or just hold me down to where I couldnât move... He never did any of that to my brothers or sister. Out of four children, I was the only one he did this to. All of my siblings said that they never knew that he was treating me that way...
