Don't let congress forget about women like me.

Don't let congress forget about women like me.

by Chaplain Kathie

I wanted to put it all behind me because I have a different life now. I have a wonderful husband now and we got married in 1984. Hard to believe that just over a year before I met this husband, I was almost killed by my first husband. Yes, he tried to kill me one night when he got home from work. I don't know if he was high on something or what happened, but all of a sudden during a small argument, he snapped and punched me in the face. A second later, I was fighting for my life. Our landlady called the police. He was arrested. I did what I was supposed to do afterwards. I filed charges, got a restraining order and packed his stuff up. I knew a great lawyer and he filed the divorce papers the next day.

A few days later, I was able to go back to work when the swelling went down. I didn't want to answer any questions from coworkers. He showed up and I went into a full panic. I called the police but he had left by then. They told me there was nothing they could do unless he was still there.

I kept doing what I was supposed to do. I called the police when he showed up. Went to court every time he broke the restraining order and ended up losing my job. They said it was because I was taking so much time off but the truth was, they didn't want any trouble.

He stalked me after that because I moved back home with my parents. I stopped calling the police because it didn't do any good.

One night I was out with friends on a blind date. We were at a club and I was sitting there talking to this poor guy when my ex-husband walked over and threatened him. We walked out, he followed us and I told the other guy to just go. He didn't. My ex-husband came after me. I picked up a 2x4 and swung. That, I thought ended his notion that he could do whatever he wanted. I was wrong again.

He followed me, ran my car off the road. I called his Mom and told her that if she didn't want to see him in jail she had better get him to leave me alone.

We got divorced and I thought it was over until I got engaged. He had been following me all that time.

Domestic violence is not always what you read in the paper. It happens in secret but the suffering is the same. It stays with you. Every time I heard a muscle car, it all came back and I had to look out the window to see if it was him or not. That stopped a couple of years ago when my cousin read in the newspaper he passed away. The crazy thing is, I moved down to Florida and still got upset when I heard a car like his.

Most of you know my story after I married Jack. We've been together for thirty years, so take some hope in that if domestic violence is happening to you. They want you to think no one will love you and you don't deserve to be happy. What I'm telling you is you don't deserve to be treated the way you are. Don't give them another chance to hurt you more and don't tell me it isn't as easy as it sounds because I already did it. It was hard but I was worth fighting for!

Think about that when you watch this video report. Know what I've done with my life since those horrible years of abuse from someone that was supposed to love me. He tried to destroy me and in a way, he came close to doing it. How many other women does this have to happen to before it is treated like a crime? If any member of congress is against protecting women like me either they don't know what is going on or they agree with it. Either way, they don't deserve to be representing women at all!

Violence Against Women Act in jeopardy
May 18, 2012 4:56 PM
The Violence Against Women Act has provided funding to help women who have been victims of abuse, and to go after their abusers. Nancy Cordes reports an impasse in Congress has the act's future in jeopardy.