You know what makes me angry?

Sexual abuse. All of the nasty, ugly and evil forms of sexual abuse. It pisses me off and it makes me want to swear and hurt somebody... namely the one doing the abuse.

In preparing to move I looked up the sex offenders in our new neighborhood on the Family Watchdog registry list (thanks to Kendra Glazer for passing this link on) and though I know that statistics and I've looked before I can't help be shocked at the number that pops up. Looking at all the dots on the map I can feel my anger growing. This time I was struck by the number of red dots on the map indicating that the offender's crime was against a child. There is more red than any other color and there is a LOT of red.

But I know that's not all of it. There's a lot missing from that map, offenders that have moved and didn't report, offenders that were never caught, and offenders that are under the age of 18. All of those people are there too but won't show up on any map with a color coded dot to inform parents and others of the potential and proven danger in their neighborhood. I don't know what solution there is to this problem but I do know that with or without little dots to tell you where these people are that we need to be educating ourselves and our children about the danger of sexual abuse because it's real. And it's not enough just to talk about it as the possible threat to them but also understanding how they could be a threat to others if they don't have respect for other people- the truth is any of us could also be the perpetrator, not just the victim. We don't want any more victims or perpetrators.

It's been two years since we learned of the girl's abuse and though dealing with it has gotten a little easier with time, education and therapy it won't ever just go away, it just won't be as close to the front of our hearts and minds. Healing has been a process and education and awareness have been important steps on that journey.

But it still makes me angry.