Reply #26: I agree.

[H2O Man]

People in general have built up defenses that keep them from seeing the uncomfortable truth about the levels of violence inside of so many homes in America. It is easier to worry about wrinkles than abused kids. It seems more fun to poke fun of someone like Sarah Palin on the home computer, than to become involved in community-based efforts to address issues of poverty -- and poverty is indeed a form of violence.

"The kindest thing that I can say about my childhood is that I survived it," one of my friends wrote on the first page of his autobiography. Today, he is an advocate for the unjustly convicted, and active in efforts to lessen the levels of violence in prison. Certainly, children living in violent homes have been unjustly convicted, and sentenced to years of incarceration in a setting that should be unacceptable in our society.