Better a millstone

How long will we turn aside our eyes from the shameful brutality against women and children among us? As is clear from the excellent five-part series by Deseret Morning News reporters Lucinda Dillon Kinkead and Dennis Romboy, the tragedy of abuse in the home has not only devastating effects on the victims but its consequences are generational.

As Kinkead and Romboy reported, "Children watch. They listen. They learn. And then, experts say, they grow up to do exactly what they've seen modeled — girls become victims if their mothers were, and boys become aggressive and impulsive, developing inappropriate and violent treatment of women."

Thus, with depressing regularity, boys and girls, who witness brutality in their homes, become future perpetrators and victims. To be crystal clear, it is "wrong to argue in front of the kids. Wrong to fight where they can see or hear. Wrong for adults to hit or throw or push each other, especially where children might get caught in the fray," Kinkead and Romboy wrote.

As we have immersed ourselves in this recently concluded series, titled "Don't hit Mommy," we are variously outraged, sickened and deeply saddened. Our response as a government and as a people is not only inadequate but often exacerbates the problem.

First and foremost, we need high-profile political attention to the issue of preventing domestic violence. Currently there is no coherent state program that deals with family violence. Instead of diverting public treasure to soccer stadiums, how about a long-term vision that does all it can to attack this social disease that damages and kills the least and most defenseless among us. Instead of dealing piecemeal with this tragedy, what is needed is a systemic evaluation of the mishmash of state activities that touch on this problem. This will require the collaboration and cooperation of numerous public and private institutions and groups.

While thoughtful government leadership and action are necessary, in themselves they are not sufficient to reduce the incidence of abuse and to ameliorate its devastating consequences. We need the effort, the care, the concern and the attention of families, friends, neighbors, churches and other institutions. It may well take a village to help address this problem.