I Have a Dream

Parents are usually the ones to help and encourage children when they need it. They are there to take care of them, help them learn, show them what's right and what's wrong. Many people don't understand why anyone would ever abuse any child, but it happens more than we think. We show a little sympathy for the stories we hear in the medias, but eventually its been brushed off and is no longer being thought about. This crisis is recognized all around the world, it is often discussed and analyzed, though we still feel helpless, not knowing what to do. Nia Glassie was a 3 year-old girl severely abused and eventually killed by her own family. In her short but tragic life, by her parents and siblings, Nia experienced being kicked, beaten, slapped, jumped on, folded into a sofa and sat on, dragged through a sandpit half-naked, held over a burning fire, flung against a wall, whirled rapidly on a rotary clothes line until she fell off until she was left lying in a coma for 36 hours without medical attention. Nia Glassie died 12 days after being taken to a hospital, on August 3rd 2007. A doctor told the court, during the trial, that if Nia had been taken to a hospital as soon as she went unconscious, she would most likely have survived. I have a dream that someday no child will live in fear of their own family. That one day we can be sure that every child goes home every day to their loved ones, and feels safe. I have a dream that the world will no longer be a place where violence is the answer to disobedience. That the world will act for the betterment of all above the convenience of the few. I have a dream where my fathers pain does not become my pain, where a child can grow up with love and safety rather than pain and self-loathing. I believe that your family should be the ones that make you feel safe and loved, the ones that help you learn, the ones that teach you what's wrong and what's right, the ones that teach you how to behave in society without the tool of persuasion being pain. So I am here today to raise awareness, and tell you to not show a little sympathy but to do something, say something. Because this crisis is all around us, and you might be closer to a girl like Nia than you think.