The Real Monsters

It’s a few days before monster month begins on Dark Bits. Monsters, in movies, literature and TV, can be great fun and we’ll celebrate them all month for Halloween.

But there is another type of monster that has been cropping up far too often on the news lately, one that has no association with the fun of fall spookiness and is all too real and disgusting.

The child molester. If you have any sympathy for this particular slime, read no farther. For I have none. As far as I am concerned these sick perverted freaks should be wiped off the face of the earth. They cannot be “cured”. Once a molester always a molester. They ruin lives and familial legacies. They are out there, lurking, stalking, preying on the innocent. Sometimes, even worse, they are in the home, a sick parent or relative or even a religious or authority figure. Mostly, they are men. Always, they are heinous.

Childhood should be a safe time. A time of tea parties and comic books, laughter and skinned knees, baseball and Barbies. All too often in today’s world it is not. Children should be protected, nurtured and allowed to be carefree and fascinated by the wonders this world has to offer—not exposed to and distorted by its dark underbelly. Of course, it’s not a perfect world and not all darkness can be hidden from our kids, but as parents we are obligated—mandated—to try. When those molesting parents, relatives or random perverts take advantage of a child unable to protect him or herself from their advances, it shatters fragile psyches and leaves a lifetime of pain. Some never recover. Some live with its scars. Some rebel and rally against it, while a handful carry on a depraved inheritance.

This has to stop. Today is Prevent Molestation Day. Every day is Prevent Molestation Day. If you are a parent, do your best to protect your children. If you see it happening, report it. Stop it. If you know a parent allowing themself to be around a molesting parent or relative, or allowing their molesting parent or relative to have access to their child, then they are emotionally ill, seriously deluded or stupid. Try to open thier eyes. Get them to seek help. These poison people should be stricken from our lives and never allowed near another child, and locked away permanently. There are national registries; make yourself aware of those molesters in your neighborhoods or towns. Watch your kids; know where they are and what they are doing online.

Childhood is a wondrous time. Full of learning, experiencing, growing and dreaming. It is time to stop dreams from being turned into nightmares. Now.