Marquetta speaks....

Emotional abuse from a teenager’s point of view Once again “I’m at the stupid doctor’s office on my birthday and I betcha this one cannot tell me what’s wrong with me”. “Happy 17 th birthday to me”. Maybe I’m making this stuff up in my head”, Crystal thought to herself . “Darn, dad’s calling me again. “Yeah dad I’m here…I’m getting ready to go in now”. “I got a call from one of your teachers today her dad explained, and Mrs. Bea told me that you are failing chemistry.” “How many times do I have to tell your stupid ass to study”….Do you want to be like your mom….a bitch who died with no education”. “You gonna have to get your shit together Crystal…call me when you leave the doctor’s office….I am so tired of your sick ass wasting my money on those doctors”…. click . He hung up. Crystal’s stomach started hurting worse but she managed to drag herself into the doctor’s office. And once again the doctor could not tell her why she was in pain. They had run test after tes...

We recently visited a nursing home in our area and gave out lap quilts that we made (my family and mom’s church). I can’t tell you how rewarding this was just to see the faces of the individuals light up. I felt so blessed to be able to give something away that was made with so much love and so much care.  In this moment, I truly realized how much handmade items are really appreciated. It was just like each lap quilt was made uniquely for that individual. You can truly tell when God is in something. Each of their faces lit up with excitement as each lap quilt was given to them.  One lap quilt was made by a lady who at the time she was making it, made it with the sole purpose to give it away to her male cousin who was in the nursing home. The lady who made the quilt was on the other side of the nursing home giving items out while we gave out the quilt she made to a gentleman in a wheelchair. Not knowing who this man was we gave the quilt to. Several minutes later t...

Remember this childhood rhyme: “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me”. Some of us used to say this little one-liner of a rhyme when growing up to prove to the bully that their words had no power and those negative words that were thrown at us can never hurt us. WOW, how wrong! How many times have you heard the words “you are stupid”, “you are so dumb”, “you can’t do anything right”, “you are a waste of space”, or better yet how many times have we told our children these same words? These very hurtful words become engrained in their hearts and spirits and eventually our children will believe these daunting words and soon after live out these words. Did you know that emotional abuse can be one of the most deadliest forms of abuse? However, societies around the world have made us believe that physical abuse is the most harmful of all of the types of abuses a person can suffer from.  They have also implied that physical abuse is the only t...