One Year and Counting
Yep, it's a year later and this entry is still up. Still public. Still speaking for me. Still breaking the silence. Still there in case it can help someone out there.
This entry is an edited letter written by me that appears in the Spring/Summer 2007 Katie DeCubellis Memorial Foundation newsletter. There's a factual error in the beginning. But that's OK. The factual error protects my identity.
This entry will stand as my last public entry. Until next year.
Here's the letter:
This is long overdue, but I wanted to thank you for speaking at Christ the King on October 23, 2006. I am a graduate of URI and at the last minute, decided to go the presentation. I am very grateful for all that I learned that evening, both from you and about myself.
I had been struggling with my own difficult journey and the presentation hit me on the level that I wouldn't have seen otherwise. I cried openly with members of the CTK community and felt a tremendous amount of positive energy.
At the end of the presentation, I remember Father Joe saying, "It is better to light one candle than to stay in the darkness." He is absolutely correct. You light many candles, including my own. That image stated with me and guided me through a piece of my own journey. For me, it's about acknowledging the darkness but living in the light. It's about letting go of being a victim. It's about becoming a survivor and wanting to do something.
I had another guiding idea, which was from Katie: "Every time you help someone, you help that person help someone else." By chance I found a friend who is also a survivor and right now, I am turning around and helping my friend.
There is something about sharing a struggle, any kind of struggle, which makes it easier. Thank you for helping me to frame my own struggle, for your strength and bravery, and for being candles in the darkness.
This entry is an edited letter written by me that appears in the Spring/Summer 2007 Katie DeCubellis Memorial Foundation newsletter. There's a factual error in the beginning. But that's OK. The factual error protects my identity.
This entry will stand as my last public entry. Until next year.
Here's the letter:
This is long overdue, but I wanted to thank you for speaking at Christ the King on October 23, 2006. I am a graduate of URI and at the last minute, decided to go the presentation. I am very grateful for all that I learned that evening, both from you and about myself.
I had been struggling with my own difficult journey and the presentation hit me on the level that I wouldn't have seen otherwise. I cried openly with members of the CTK community and felt a tremendous amount of positive energy.
At the end of the presentation, I remember Father Joe saying, "It is better to light one candle than to stay in the darkness." He is absolutely correct. You light many candles, including my own. That image stated with me and guided me through a piece of my own journey. For me, it's about acknowledging the darkness but living in the light. It's about letting go of being a victim. It's about becoming a survivor and wanting to do something.
I had another guiding idea, which was from Katie: "Every time you help someone, you help that person help someone else." By chance I found a friend who is also a survivor and right now, I am turning around and helping my friend.
There is something about sharing a struggle, any kind of struggle, which makes it easier. Thank you for helping me to frame my own struggle, for your strength and bravery, and for being candles in the darkness.