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Abuse is hitting a child. Abuse is neglecting to provide a child with the basic needs. Abuse is committing acts upon a child that are so despicable I find myself unable to even relay them here.
Pierced ears? Not abuse.
I spent a period of my teen years as a youth worker and I met some abused children. These kids had questions that nobody had answers to and had been through trauma that they would carry with them the rest of their lives. They were subjected to far worse at a much younger age than many people can even imagine. And I still think about them, sometimes. I can still list their names (although I won't, for obvious reasons).
The worst were the ones who were smoking and having sex at 12 years old. Much as I'm jaded now, at that age I still retained some of my innocence. I can't even begin to imagine what they must have felt, orthe life they had ahead of them, all as a result of the direct actions of their supposed guardians.
So, yeah. If you try to tell me that piercing a baby's ears is abuse, I'm gonna call bullshit. It's tacky, but it's not abuse. Same deal for circumcision.
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I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said
- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame
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