The Ring of Truth
by Elouise
Yesterday morning I brainstormed themes and titles for a post—all over the page of my spiral notebook. The page got more crowded by the minute. So I gave up, and began writing my Memo to White Women in the USA.
Today our national controversy is even greater than it was yesterday. For some it’s all about party politics and the next Supreme Court Justice.
For others, it’s about the need to take seriously what Dr. Anita Hill and Dr. Christine Ford talked about. Right now, everyday women and their supporters are coming out of the woodwork. Galvanized. Ready to insist on truth no matter how much it may cost them personally.
So I’m back to my page of unused themes and titles. But first I have a challenge. If you’ve never written out your story, at least for yourself, I challenge you to do that now, not later. Not just what happened to you, but how it made you feel.
There’s power in the act of writing your story down. Making it visible. Word by word. Line upon line. As it comes out, unedited and raw. It doesn’t matter whether it’s poetry or prose. Just so it rings true to you. You don’t have to show it to anyone at all. Especially if they’re people you don’t trust.
I wept gallons working on what became some of my early posts. I also had a trusted professional who worked with me when my writing raised things I had to deal with. Sometimes they were about unfinished business. Other times they were about how to take care of myself. I highly recommend seeking trustworthy professional help. Especially when past experiences keep spilling over into the present.
So here are several titles without stories. Maybe they’ll get you thinking, or coming up with your own better titles for your story. They might even prompt you to begin a list of things you remember and wish you could forget.
The Ring of Truth
Against All Odds
Marked for Life
Strength in Weakness
This Woman’s Burden
Broken not Bent
No Prize for a Good Performance
I Dared Say No
At Great Cost
Free at Last
Daddy’s Little Girl
I Married a Predator
I Thought He Loved Me
Perhaps you don’t think this is all that important. Well….You’re important, and that’s enough all by itself.
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 29 September 2018
Image found at India.com
Telling the Truth 
Why wait; don’t wait!
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Well…telling my story is what I’ve been doing in this blog for nearly five years. As for any woman (or man) out there who has been sexually abused, I’d say exactly what you say in this comment: Why wait; don’t wait! Thanks for the comment, Brian.
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I was using that as the title of a book, Ithought that was what you were wanting, Why wait to tell of abuse do it now is what I was implying.
Perhaps as some have suggested I’m further around the bend than Iimagined.
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Oh! I love it as a title. Maybe for your book? 😊
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I thought it went rather well with all those titles you were considering; it really wouldn’t suit me, as I’m not inclined to procrastinate, sometimes to my peril, Fools rush in? kind of applies to yours truly :twisted;
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so much food for thought here Super E, I will definitely give it a try in the near future ❤
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Yay for You! I was surprised by how difficult it was to put things in writing. Easier to let them float in my mind and emotions unexpressed, I guess. Besides, who likes focusing on hard times? Still, if I were just a bit younger and had more energy I’d likely be combing through my posts, finding prose and poetry about my own experience of facing up to what happened to me and how it shaped me as an adult.
Cheers and hugs from me!
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I have had bits in writing before, often masqueraded as metaphor. I’ve done a lot when I was young I wasn’t proud of, but it helped shape my later mindset and fueled a growth for good instead of evil and allowing another to have that power, couldn’t be a victim, I had to conquer fear and self loathing to enable growth and healing💜💕
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I love your comments about the way your past helped shape your direction in life! Definitely worth more attention, especially in these quarrelsome, coming-after-you times. It sounds like a most worthwhile project for today’s troubled times and unbridled desire to go for the jugular. Your poems definitely bear witness to the way you envision another reality and place yourself at its ‘disposal’ rather than joining the trash-heap of jaded, worn-out fighters for justice and truth. Cheers to you, Kim! 🙂
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Thanks E, I like to send out good juju vibes through my words and hope, no, pray they make their way through the universe and connect with anyone who needs a message, no one is alone in this world from the view of experiences in life, when we share our stories, it allows others to know that what happened wasn’t to do with who they were, their dress, etc….bringing people up and not down is a good thing and if every man and woman were born feeling equal and secure within themselves and in their minds, there would be no need to carry power over another, to assert that need to dominate and hurt, etc….it’s a crazy world and I remember in the 70s no one talked about this stuff, now it’s all over the place. It’s something that’s always been around, it’s just heard about more loud and clear. Hope this makes some sort of sense, still waking up😊
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You have a clear, compelling vision. I think most people are aching to know whether it was something about them that caused someone to ‘bring them down’ a notch. I agree with you–personal insecurity doesn’t help us acknowledge (and allow to flourish) another person’s equally valid identity as a full human being. Also, I’m with you–still waking up! 🙂
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