You wake up to your boyfriend sitting on the edge of the bed looking through your text messages and call log. He defends himself by telling you he loves you and wants you only for himself. When you try and take your phone back, he pushes you across the room and forcefully restricts you beneath his grasp.
That isn’t love.
Your girlfriend slaps you across the face for speaking to another woman at the bar while she was in the bathroom. She tells you that you aren’t allowed to give away the affection and attention that is supposed to be hers.
That isn’t love.
Your boyfriend puts you through a wall, tears at your clothing and gives you the black eye that lingers for weeks all because you came home from work an hour late. The black eye that your co-workers, friends, family, children, and neighbors all notice but look away from, hoping that if they pretend not to notice, it’ll won’t mean something much more serious is going on.
That isn’t love.
Domestic violence awareness month speaks out against these far too common, everyday acts that one in three women and one in four men will experience at least once, but most likely several times, throughout their lives by an intimate partner. The presence of domestic violence has reached an alarming rate in the United States where twenty people per minute are experiencing some sort of physical abuse from a partner or loved one.
Love isn’t screaming and fighting over missed phone calls. Love isn’t pushing, shoving, kicking, or punching your lover over discovering that they have friends of the opposite gender. Love isn’t coming home from a hard day at work and taking it out on the one person who loves you unconditionally. Love isn’t making temporary decisions that leave everlasting consequences on the people you love. Love is about trust, passion, loyalty, and compassion for the people who matter the most to you.
