THE LOYALIST: There’s something terribly wrong in this country

Published 3:01 pm Monday, November 8, 2021

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By Clark Bailey

” But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

St. Matthew’s Gospel 19:14

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“It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.”

St. Luke’s Gospel 17:2 

“Runaway train never going back Wrong-way on a one-way track

Seems like I should be getting somewhere

Somehow I’m neither here nor there”

Soul Asylum from their song Runaway Train 

There’s something terribly wrong in this country and actually in our world.

While this obviously isn’t a new revelation, recent events have brought this to the forefront of my thought even more so.

Some months back a parent, the father of a teenage girl was arrested at his local school board meeting in Loudon County, Virginia for disorderly conduct. It steemed from a scene at the meeting that itself was brought on by the assault on his daughter in the school bathroom by a male student identifying as a female.

I can remember succinctly when which bathrooms people were going to use was all the rage a few years back. I also remember and remember well that those who spoke of things like this happening were met with the chorus of bigots and conspiracy theorists by those clamoring for boys to use the bathroom with girls.

It’s become tiresome and in this case, disheartening to say; “I told you so.”

In the time since this incident and the attacks by the national media on the father the young man who identifies as a female has been found guilty of sexual assault on the young girl. Left-leaning sources have tried to mitigate the damage. And the boy’s mother, a walking trope or stereotype to the idiocy of left-wing wokism herself, has tried to blame the victim for not stopping the rape herself. Claiming a 15-year-old should have been able to fight back sufficiently.

I would like to say this utterly disgusts me, but, that would be minus some much-needed expletives and it would be woefully insufficient.

Much more recently, as in around a week or so ago, pictures flooded the internet and social media of a high school banquet in Hazard, KY. The only reason I don’t know what it is for sure is that I refuse to look it up because I refuse to look at the pictures anymore.

More mindblowing than the scene that unfolded on their social media page was the amount ( and there should have been none) of people defending these antics.

There’s nowhere on this planet where half-dressed high school boys ( or girls for that matter) should be backing their rear end up to the principal’s crotch and grinding as if they were strippers. It is patently disgusting and immoral. Just like the disciplinary action taken in secret against the principal. The lack of transparency shows the comfort that the particular school’s administration has with the behavior. That and the fact that the principal is still employed at the school.

Abuse, assault, rape, human trafficking, runaways, are things that happen far too often with children and adults in this nation. A sickness that has festered amongst our society till it has become a cancerous tumor.

The National Sexual Violence Resource Center ( NSVRC) reports that there were close to 800,000 rapes or attempted rapes in this country in 2018. It also states that 1 in 5 women report some type of sexual assault over their lifetimes and that 24.8% of men report the same fact. Even more troubling is that out of those numbers 33% of females report they were raped, attempted to rape between the ages of 11 and 17. The number for men is around 25%.

The National Center for Education Statistics in a 2005-06 school year survey report that out of the 760 ( 7% of public schools) schools surveyed there were 1,600 incidents of sexual and or physical violence. No breakdown on how many instances of each or what this would be the percentage-wise per number of students. No matter what, it is troubling.

The Criminal Justice Information System ( CJIS) reports that as of December 31st, 2019 there are 87,500 active missing person cases in the United States. Children under the age of 18 accounts for 35% of those and youth under the age of 21 accounts for 44%. Leaving 21% of those being over the age of 21, and no word on those over the age of 21 on how old they were when they first went missing. According to this same source, 609,000 missing reports were entered into the National Crime Information Center ( NCIC) in 2019 with 607,000 of those being closed by the reporting agency.

The International Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports that 460,000 children go missing in the United States each year with some being runaways and some being stranger abductions while some being parental abductions.

The National Center for Victims of Crimes offers some more sobering and daunting statistics in regards to sexual abuse:

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Children’s Bureau report Child Maltreatment 2010 found that 9.2% of victimized children were sexually assaulted.

Studies by David Finkelhor, Director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center, show that:

  • 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys is a victim of child sexual abuse;
  • Self-report studies show that 20% of adult females and 5-10% of adult males recall a childhood sexual assault or sexual abuse incident;
  • During a one-year period in the U.S., 16% of youth ages 14 to 17 had been sexually victimized;
  • Over the course of their lifetime, 28% of U.S. youth ages 14 to 17 had been sexually victimized;
  • Children are most vulnerable to CSA between the ages of 7 and 13.

According to a 2003 National Institute of Justice report, 3 out of 4 adolescents who have been sexually assaulted were victimized by someone they knew well.

Bureau of Justice Statistics report shows 1.6 % (sixteen out of one thousand) of children between the ages of 12-17 were victims of rape/sexual assault.

A study conducted in 1986 found that 63% of women who had suffered sexual abuse by a family member also reported a rape or attempted rape after the age of 14. Recent studies in 2000, 2002, and 2005 have all concluded similar results.

Children who had an experience of rape or attempted rape in their adolescent years were 13.7 times more likely to experience rape or attempted rape in their first year of college.

A child who is the victim of prolonged sexual abuse usually develops low self-esteem, a feeling of worthlessness, and an abnormal or distorted view of sex. The child may become withdrawn and mistrustful of adults and can become suicidal.

Information taken from the Amythest recovery center website shows an intrinsic link between abuse and or rape and the abuse of drugs and alcohol.

According to RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), sexual abuse victims are 26 times more likely to abuse drugs and 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol. The likelihood that they will suffer from depression is 3 times greater than someone who was not sexually abused.

These statistics offer a very sobering effect on even the most hardened person. What is even more troubling, however, is the fact that sexual assaults, rapes, instances of abuse are often underreported or never reported.

These stats are also only and handful and a scattered look at the problem. Time and space in this column prevent me from going even more in-depth. I also feel that emotional overload may occur to both myself and the reader.

What I hope to call attention to is the fact there is much work to be done. That we all ( and there are four fingers pointing back at me) aren’t doing enough. If you are then this isn’t for you.

For the rest of us, we need a find a way where we can contribute in whatever ways God has blessed us with talents. Some may be called to be a counselor. Some may be called into healthcare. Some may be called into corrections or law enforcement. Some may be called to the clergy. Some may be called to be foster parents. We are all called to be better people. Better friends, better spouses, to lend a listening ear, to just, in short, be better people.

I don’t claim to have all the solutions or maybe I don’t have any. That isn’t the point I want to illustrate, I want to say there needs to be more of us willing to make sure policies are never enacted at schools where children may be raped because someone claims they have to use the other bathroom. We must be willing to demand that teachers and administrators and school board members that think it is okay to have a cross-dressing grinding party at school should find other careers. We need to stand up for victims of sexual assault, abuse, and rape. We need to find ways to try and end this horrible scourge on humanity. And knowing that we will never end sin and bad behavior we must find ways to support and care for those who are victims of these heinous acts.

I call on myself to do better and to do more first but make no mistake, I call on us all.