The other night I went and saw Shutter Island with my husband. Immediately after, I was just overcome with such a dark depressing feeling. As we were driving home I literally broke down in tears because of some of the things I SAW in the movie. It was just so disturbing for me and regretted ever going to see it in the first place.

The LDS church (the church in which I’m a part of), advises us to abstain from watching rated R movies. The reasons are pretty obvious, because we all know the kind of influence movies can have. I’m not perfect and don’t claim to be. I admit I haven’t been that great in following that counsel. I was once very strict about this rule, before my mission,( of course during since we weren’t allowed to watch any movies or TV) and for a while afterwards. I guess over time, little by little became desensitized. I began justifying it and thinking, oh, it’s only a little violence, or it’s just a little profanity. Or, just this once we’ll watch it because it won all these awards. How could we NOT see it if it’s THAT good.

Anyway, my point is, after watching this movie I thought, why do I do this to myself, I know how these kinds of movies make me feel, but yet still choose to watch. This experience has made me think more about the affects rated R movies can have on ones spirit, and that perhaps I should try harder to FOLLOW the very wise advise of the church leaders.

The dilemma I have is this, we are hearing and seeing these kinds of things happening in REAL life by just simply turning on the news. Should we not watch the news either? I actually don’t watch or read it, but hear bits and pieces of what’s going on from my husband. Sometimes I think, don’t TELL me, I don’t want to know. It’s so depressing, just knowing of the awful things that are happening to people, and especially children. I think that’s why this movie had such a negative impact on me, because it had to do with children. It’s almost unbearable to watch or hear about any thing bad happening to such precious beings.

I know it’s important to be aware of what’s going on in the world, and ignorance isn’t always bliss. It’s crucial to KNOW about the dangers we face in order to better protect our own children. But seriously, sometimes I wish everything could just be rainbows and butterflies. I just want to PRETEND that these kinds of things don’t really go on. I want to live in LA LA Land and “dream in cartoons”, like Tinley :), oh shoot, did Vienna say that???? man, I never thought I’d be quoting her. (If you don’t watch the Bachelor, you may not have a clue what I’m talking about, sorry)

This brings me to another subject, which I assure you is not an easy one for me to talk about.

I don’t like talking to my daughter about things that COULD happen. I want her to grow up knowing the world as a happy safe place, but it is important that she knows what to do incase she finds herself in a bad situation. We recently purchased some DVD’s, workbooks, and so forth, that help parents talk to their children about their bodies, what’s private and what we share, and about Good Touch Bad Touch. We purchased this all from Child Help.

Childhelp® is a leading national non-profit organization dedicated to helping victims of child abuse and neglect. Childhelp’s approach focuses on prevention, intervention and treatment.

The statistics are so sad, and hope that we can do our part in teaching our children what they need to know in order to keep them safe. I thought I’d post the statistics for you to see, and trust me, I HATE to do it, just makes me want to cry.

Statistics
-Almost five children die everyday as a result of child abuse. More than three out of four are under the age of 4.

-It is estimated that between 60-85% of child fatalities due to maltreatment are not recorded as such on death certificates.

-A report of child abuse is made every ten seconds.

-Ninety percent of child sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator in some way; 68% are abused by family members.

-Child abuse occurs at every socio-economic level, across ethnic and cultural lines, within all religions and at all levels of education.

-Thirty-one percent of women in prison in the United States were abused as children.

-Over 60% of people in drug rehabilitation centers report being abused or neglected as a child.

-About 30% of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the horrible cycle of abuse.

-About 80% of 21 year old that were abused as children met criteria for at least one psychological disorder.

-The estimated annual cost resulting from child abuse and neglect in the United States for 2007 is $104 billion.