#METOO AND FOLLOW THROUGH

The #MeToo movement was long overdo. It was (and remains) needed to rip a scab off a putrid cultural sore of sexual abuse and harassment.  There is evil in sexual predation. This evil is intensified by power imbalance between predator and victim. It can appear as inappropriate advances, intimidation, threats, and in extreme cases, violence. The evil is fuelled by silence. The #MeToo movement removed the fuel. But it must not stop there.

Avenues must be established for healing for victims (and

perpetrators). Our collective human community must work toward a proper balance between justice and mercy. It must ensure bridges of communication are open for repentance and forgiveness, restoration and reorientation of relationship dynamics based on mutual respect. This may involve therapies and treatments for victims and predators. The accused must be allowed to defend themselves, victims supported, false accusers punished.

But the goal must be restoration of everyone involved to view the other as valued, equal and contributing members of our collective human family. 

I understand that is not always possible. It takes the wisdom of Job to understand who can be retrieved and regretfully accept who is irretrievable and must remain pariahs. Our human community must remain sensitive and discerning about who is which. There is a time for incarceration for serious or criminal offences or repeat sexual offenders.  Always protect the common good even though it can carry a high human cost. 

It must be acknowledged that we live in a pornographic culture and that must be changed. Modesty is a virtue. Sexualization of people as objects, outside the bounds of commitment relationships, must cease to be glorified or viewed as healthy. Nobody is an object for the gratuitous gratification of someone else. The arts and media must move toward messaging that embraces the unalienable worth of every human being in their own rite. Entertainment and education have an important role to play in casting our individual and cultural understanding of human nature as possessing a spark of the divine. 

If you do not believe that every human life is inalienably endowed with the image and likeness of God, at least behave as though you do. -- MDP