The response of the human spirit across the World in support of the victims was, and continues to be, inspirational. Warring factions became united in the cause of relief. People from all walks of life and all religious beliefs joined together and reached out in an immense humanitarian gesture.
Yet amidst all of this heartfelt response, the predatorial scum were out there snatching grieving homeless children for their perverted gratification.
And there were those who sought to profit by trading in the children as if they were commodities at auction.
That this should horrify the average decent human being is accepted. Yet every day in every culture throughout the World child abuse continues behind the silk curtain of denial.
Abuse, especially that of children, is a crime that hides in its silence. We fail to see the elephant in the kitchen. Or worse we ignore it so that in a sense it is diminished as a crime.
These violated children are robbed of their childhood innocence and are impacted for a lifetime whilst the perpetrators continue to live their shadowy shameful and scheming lives mostly unaffected and unchallenged.
It is a sad fact that most child abuse is carried out by parents, relatives, family friends and trusted members of the community such as the clergy and teachers. Thus, child abuse flourishes where there is an opportunity for the misuse of power over trusting and innocent children.
What makes this crime worse is that if children complain they are usually not believed and the abuse is allowed to continue for many years unabated.
As adults, many child abuse victims have difficulty living what Society would call "normal lives" and relive the trauma daily. Many develop addictions to drugs, alcohol or gambling and live in a state of constant depression requiring therapy and medication.
They have significant difficulty in forming relationships and live fearfully and without trust. They live their lives as victims by blaming themselves for what has happened to them and perceive that it was their own unworthiness that justifies the acts of the perpetrators.
It is a widely held belief that when child abuse victims have their own families, that they continue the cycle of abuse by carrying out this heinous crime on their own children.
The consequences of child abuse are so far reaching that it touches generations within families.
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