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Tag Archives: empathy
Trans Position
Every day, every single day, a different right-wing politician introduces yet another bill in yet another state (or federally) that will in some way take away the rights or dignity of transgender people and make life harder for a group … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged abusers, allyship, authentic, Christ, Christian, Dignity, drag, drag queens, electorate, empathy, legislation, love, minorities, peace, politician, pride, rhetoric, right-wing, rights, sons, trans, transgender, tyranny
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Emotional Distancing
Apparently I did not know how much fear, stress, and anxiety had built up within me over the last year, but apparently it was there all along. Not only was I socially distancing, but I was also emotionally distancing. While … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged anger, anxiety, appointments, BMI, body mass index, Catholic guilt, Covid, disease, eligibility, empathy, envy, fear, feelings, frustration, health care, health conditions, heart condition, hug, human beings, jealous, lesson, life, love, pandemic, pharmacy, pre-existing conditions, relief, social distancing, stress, survivor, uncertainty, vaccine, virus, wait list, waiting, Wisconsin
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Virus of the Soul
Sitting at home reading about tens of thousands of people in my country dying of Covid-19 is hard enough. Knowing that countless more will die in the coming months is even more difficult. But reading about ignorant and hateful acts … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged African, America, Ammon Bundy, brother, California, civil war, compassion, compromise, coronavirus, Covid-19, empathy, enslavement, entitled, environment, evil, exploitation, face mask, genocide, God, government, greatness, heart, Holocaust, Idaho, idiots, Jews, killed, Ku Klux Klan hood, love, Michigan, money, morals, Native Americans, neighbors, news, political positions, politicians, profits, protest, quarantine, religion, sacrifice, science, security guard, sick, soul, spiritual reawakening, virus, war, Wisconsin
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Yes, This Is Who We Are
Aside from the ubiquitous thoughts and prayers, the refusal to consider any kind of gun control at all because it’s always too soon to talk about it, and the flags once again lowered to half-staff, there is another thing … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged African-American, American, anti-Semite, assassinations, Aurora, bombs, bridge, Christians, cisgender, Columbine, common ground, common sense gun laws, compassion, conscience, covert wars, death, disease, doctors, earth, empathy, enslaved, first responders, flags, forgiveness, Fort Hood, gays, genocide, gun control, half-staff, hate, history, Holocaust, Hondurans, immigrants, imprisonment, indigenous peoples, Ireland, Jews, Las Vegas, life savers, love, mass shooting, melting pot, men, Mexico, ministers, moral compass, murders, Muslims, nation, Native people, nurses, Oak Creek, pacifists, peacemakers, people of color, poor, potato famine, priests, privilege, promised land, Pulse Orlando, rabbis, random killings, republic, right-wing fanatic, Sandy Hook, shame, society, souls, starvation, Stoneman Douglas, straights, synagogue, The Tree of Life, thoughts and prayers, trans, Virginia Tech, volunteers, war, white people, white supremacist, women, worshippers
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Profiles in Cowardice
On Friday, the remaining holdouts on the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation announced their intentions in the vote that is scheduled for Saturday. For those who are survivors of sexual assault, the likely vote of 51 to 49 to confirm–unless something major … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged abuse, agenda, Arkansas, attempted rape, body language, Brett Kavanaugh, Chuck Grassley, citizens, compassion, conscience, corroborate, corrupted, cowardice, Democrats, Donald Trump, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, drinking, drugs, elderly, empathy, false memories, FBI, fear, harassment, healing, hearing, heart attack, House, investigation, Jeff Flake, Joe Manchin, John F. Kennedy, jurist, justice, lap dog, left-wingers, LGBT, lied under oath, Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, molested, money, old queen, Orrin Hatch, partisan, people of color, political cover, politics, poor, power, Presidential ambitions, Profiles in Courage, rape, Republicans, right-wing conservative, Ron Johnson, self-blame, self-hatred, Senate, sexual assault, shame, Supreme Court, survivors, Susan Collins, Tom Cotton, Utah, violence, West Virginia, Wisconsin
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Paths to Healing Keynote Speech
At this year’s Paths to Healing conference on male survivors of child sex assault I was the keynote speaker. This is the text of the speech I delivered today. Good morning. I’d like to start by thanking Chris Taylor, who … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged #MeToo, 9/11, A Single Bluebird, adult survivor, African-American, alcoholism, allies, altar boy, American Family Insurance, angels, anger issues, articles, arts, becoming, black man, blog, books, brotherhood, Canopy Center, casual sex, child sex abuse, child sex assault, childhoiod, Chris Taylor, class, collective spirit, color, come out, compassion, control, courage, creed, Dane County Rape Crisis Center, DEnim Day, depression, disabled, domestic abuse, drug abuse, emotions, empathy, Empty Playground, equality, essays, faith, Family Sexual Abuse Treatment, forgive, forgiveness, Friends of the State Street Family, gay man, gender, gender identity, harassment, Harvey Milk, hatred, healing, heart attack, Henry David Thoreau, Hmong, Ho-Chunk Nation, honest, hope, horror, human, human connection, human spirit, humanity, inner child, innocence, Invisible Boy, Irish-Catholic, Jesus, Journalism, journey, joy, justice, keynote speech, Latino, LGBT, Madison, male survivor, masculinity, memoir, meningitis, minority, monologues, mumps, Native American, neighbors, orientation, OutReach, Paradise, Paths to Healing, peace, perpetrator, person of color, personhood, plays, playwriting, poetry, positive energy, post traumatic stress disorder, power, promiscuity, prostitution, Proud Theater, queer, race, recovering alcoholic, reocvery, rights, scarlet fever, secrets, self-abuse, self-care, self-hatred, sex, sexual abuse, Sexual Assault Awareness Month, sexuality, shame, siblings, silence, social drinking, Solidarity with Child Abuse Victims/Survivors, sorrow, spirituality, State Capitol, straight, suffering, suicidal ideation, teach, therapy, threats, trans, trigger warning, truth, underserved communities, UNIDOS Against Domestic Violence, universal truths, Utopia, UW-EauClaire, victims, violence, Voices of Courage, Waylon Pahona, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, writer
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Will they know
When they dig up these bones what will they find on the skeleton of my life? Will they be able to read the hieroglyphics on my skull and the petroglyphs of my soul etched in the decaying calcium before them? … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged all, anger, bodies, bones, corpse, curiosity, dust, earth, empathy, enrgy, frailty, hate, hieroglyphics, home, human beings, immortality, life, love, man, mortality, passion, petroglyphs, skeleton, soul, strength, writing
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Forgive the Shooter
On Sunday evening in the small Wisconsin town of Menasha a man apparently distraught over a recent breakup and argument with his former fiancée took two guns with him on his bike and went for a ride. On the middle … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged "eye for an eye", "hill of death", Adam Bentdahl, bridges, Christian, compassion, empathy, Erin Stoffel, faith, forgive, forgiveness, forgiving, guns, hate, hero, heroism, Jim Campbell, Jonathan Stoffel, life story, Little Lake Butte Des Mortes, love, Menasha, Old Testament, Olivia Stoffel, religion, retribution, selflessness, Sergio Daniel Valencia del Toro, shooter, Trestle Trail Bridge, violence, Wisconsin
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To Mom on Your 90th Birthday
You were born in 1925. February 19, 1925 and you came into this world as the youngest of nine children. And now, it is 2015. It is nine decades later. It is ninety years later and you are still smiling and … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Afghanistan, Cold War, compassion, empathy, generosity, Great Depression, Happy Birthday, Iraq, justice, Korea, laugh, laughter, love, Mom, moral compass, mother, ninety years, smile, Vietnam, World War II
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Through the Darkness Lightly
After 24 years of sobriety my days of heavy drinking seem like a distant blur and somewhat unreal in certain ways. I spent about eleven years of my life in a pretty much constant drunken haze, self-medicating, hiding, creating masks. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged addictive personality, alcohol, alcoholism, child sex abuse, Child Victims Act, depression, drugs, drunk, empathy, faith, forgiveness, innocence, Jesus, lessons, male survivors, masks, molestation, paranoia, rape, self-medication, self-revelation, sexual abuse, sobriety, suicide, survival, thankfulness
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Dark Secrets
About eight months ago I set up a new Facebook page in response to the Penn State child abuse scandal. It was intended as a place to show support with the survivors there and survivors worldwide and as a clearinghouse … Continue reading
Weldschmerz
As a natural empath I can absorb an incredible amount of pain for others. I have been blessed in the sense that my own pain threshold, both physical and emotional, is much higher than most. This doesn’t mean I never … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged empathy, joy, sadness, weldschmerz, world joy, world pain
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