Oh man, I don't think I have words sufficient to describe this books or my thoughts after reading it. But I'm gonna try, anyway. Secret Slave is "a work of non-fiction, based on the life, experiences and recollections of Anna Ruston, who is using a pseudonym." The author retells, in graphic detail, the horrors she endured as a sex slave (and human punching bag) from the age of 15 to the age of 28, when she was finally able to escape.
As I mentioned, Ms. Ruston does not shy away from detailing the physical, sexual, emotional and psychological abuse that she endured not only at the hands of her sadistic kidnapper, but his family as well. I cannot imagine how the author found the will to continue living, day after day, for 13 years, through insurmountable torture. I could not stop reading and finished this book in less than a day. I cried, I got incredibly angry, and I finally felt relief and hope as Anna detailed in the epilogue what her life looks like now.
I will never understand how one human being could commit such horrendous acts against another human. But what really got to me the most about Anna's story was the amount of people she came into contact with throughout those 13 years...doctors, nurses, home health care workers, even policemen, who did nothing.
I truly think this should be required reading for anyone in the medical and human/social services field. Every warning sign was there. She had several hospitalizations. Several miscarriages. Several severe injuries explained away as clumsiness. She was not allowed to speak to the doctors and nurses, her captor always answered for her. She was not allowed to be alone, there were always 2 or more of her captor's family members with her at all times. She was not allowed to remain at the hospital unless absolutely necessary, and even then she was smuggled out a few times. And yet, all of these hospitalizations, all of these doctors and nurses and aides that came into contact with her, that saw all of these warning signs, and no one helped her. No one did anything. They either saw and didn't act, or choose not to see what was very plainly in front of their eyes.
Just imagine if the first doctor she ever saw did something. Or the second. Or the third. If someone, at some point over those 13 years, helped her. But no one did.
Don't be the person who chooses not to see. Don't be the person who sees and doesn't act. Educate yourself. Know the warning signs. And if you see them, act.
"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor."
[Desmond Tutu]
-AA
No comments:
Post a Comment