Pain and suffering are inevitably part of life. Harsh, but true. From scraped knees to heartbreak from unrequited love, pain and suffering are to be expected. It is our job as parents to teach children how to deal with pain, to adequately suffer and then move on.
It is also our job to teach them which particular kind of pain is not to be expected or accepted and that there are things we simply can't allow ourselves to dismiss as just another problem. Last night I met with over one hundred parents who, like me, were looking for ways to make sure that our children can understand that we will never allow the rapist from my youngest son's daycare center to hurt another child ever again.
I live literally right around the corner from the daycare. The center's gate and walls have been graffitied and covered in eggs and other things I don't care to mention. My kids and spouse pass by there every day, making the atmosphere permanently violent. Last night, after our meeting, a group of parents went to clean that all up. We cleaned, we painted and left the neighborhood looking a little more amiable. The immediate result was that this morning my sons saw that the walls were white. I told them that I had cleaned the insults and the paint. I also told them that I was going take legal action.
Today I became one of the now 23 plaintiffs in a civil and criminal suit that has been presented before the Chilean court system against the rapist, his employer (the rapist's mother) and any other person who might be deemed responsible during the 90 day investigation. I told my children that as long as their mother and I were alive, we would do every and anything in our power to protect them. They asked me if they would ever see "those people (our neighbors, by the way)" again. I told them firmly that I would do everything I can to keep them locked up for life and that they would never have to see the again. My eldest son hugged me.
Yesterday I felt powerless. Today I fell powerful.
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