“The Lives of Abused and Battered Women”

This book was written to tell the story of abuse the only way that it could be, by someone who knew what it was truly about. No one can tell it better than someone who had walked a mile or two in the shoes of abuse. For twenty-five years I lived the live of being abused. The cold harsh words, betrayal, and physical abuse were all I ever had to look forward to. Being told that no one would want you for, but only one thing made me stay in the relationships. I felt that if I left the relationship, no one would want me because no one seemed to be interested in me anyway. In and out of every relationship it was always the same thing, taking what my mates dished out in order to have a man in my life, and I thought that they loved me. I always prayed that my mates would change, and begin to treat me the way that I deserved to be treated. Being picked at and taunted by people who knew what was going on in their cold, harsh, and sneaky ways. The thought of being told that, ‘if you couldn’t hang with the big dog that you should stay on the porch’, which only meant that I either accept what they were dishing out, or that I could go somewhere else. I knew that it wasn’t right to be treated that way, but I had low-self esteem. I lived that live style all those years, then it hit me, I finally realized that I was better than that. It hit me one day that God allowed me to go through my trials, to strengthen me so that I wouldn’t allow anyone to treat me that way ever again. Then I was told by a minister at church that it was Gods’ will for me to tell my story to be a blessing to other women (men). I wanted to be an inspiration to the young children that may be tempted to get into this kind of relationship not knowing what they were in for. I wrote this book to tell of my abusive lifestyle as well as that of other women. I wanted them to know that the only way that the situation would change was if they stopped accepting it. It tells of how women do things to other women, taking their men, and feeling that they had done something big. If only we had walked away at the first sign of abuse, things would have been better. It’s time for us to stand up for our rights. It’s a subject that is not on only in the low-class minority of women; it’s in the in the middle class, and high minority of women also. Hiding abuse under the rug only makes a lump, then a mold hill, and then it turns into a mountain that can’t be climbed. I wanted to be a blessing to anyone that had not been abused, and to the ones that were still living it. My heart and prayers are with them.

Barbara Hart