The Weight of Shame.
"A Life, Taken" is inspired by my personal experience with sexual abuse. Before writing this story I never spoke about what happened to me as a child. Sitting down to write my story wasn't a conscious choice it was more like I was led to do so by a force greater than myself. I had no idea the effect it would have on me and my life. I can still remember the day I finished the first draft (over year ago), somehow I felt lighter, like a w eight had b e en lift ed. I know now that by writing my story and getting it out I had dropped the heavy weight of shame I had been clinging to all these years. My silence insured that I held tightly to this shame as if it were some kind of life preserver instead of what it really was - a 10 ton weight. I chose to stay quiet and not speak about what happened to me. I thought this would make it "go away". Boy was I wrong. This is like putting a bag of garbage in a closet in the house instead of throwing it out in the dumpste