I had this fascinating dream. This little boy had been raped. I told him we needed to call the police immediately for this crime. He looked up through tears and said, “I could just forgive him.”
Oh my heart be still!
These children that have no other method of survival simply want the pain to end. We could just forgive the abuser, but do we really know how as children? I think not. The more likely explanation is that we are told how to behave.
So, forgiveness must equate forgetting.
Not true!
This little boy in my dream can cite forgiveness but his little being will carry that trauma with him forever more. He needed care. He needed to see this incident brought to light and made big through the eyes of law enforcement.
It was not his job to fix the situation.
How many of us have tried to fix our situations by a fain exhibition of forgiveness or through true traumatic amnesia — until the day the veil is removed.
More likely this little boy was living in post-traumatic amnesia (PTA). The state of confusion that occurs immediately following a traumatic injury. This injured little boy was disoriented and needed to get past the rape fast.
We need to do more as a society. Heal — then reach back and help the others along the way!