Halloween brought to a close October and Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Purple silhouettes were placed in various parts of Amador County to bring attention to an act that destroys families and lives. Some of the silhouettes were damaged; heads and various body parts came up missing and at times the entire figure disappeared. Posters placed on bulletin boards throughout the area were also torn down. The posters were announcing free showings of "Unforgivable," a made-for-TV movie of the true life story of Dr. Paul and Judy Hegstrom, a batterer even while a pastor. (Domestic violence knows no barriers, social class or economic level. It touches all.)
This particular video ends in a good way, showing the couple had remarried! What it does not show (but we tell) is that remarriage didn't take place immediately, but approximately 11 years later, after intense therapy and forgiveness on both their parts. The Life Skills International was birthed from this couple's experience with violence and is helping hundreds of thousands worldwide to get free from the rage that causes pain, suffering and emotional scars in order to live a normal, peaceful life. Why anyone would want to disrupt or destroy offers of help at no cost is beyond me. Everyone I've met involved with this project was actually doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. Operation Care has a tremendous array of free help for the asking. Several of us involved in or with the domestic violence video program were victims ourselves. Most had been abused wives. I, myself, experienced growing up in a home with an abusive father. Although I was never a victim of physical abuse, I have memories from 60 years ago regarding the abuse poured on my older brother. Information on the "Unforgivable" video can be requested at rchapman@volcano.net.