Different. Honest. Direct. Without Secrets. Emotional. Complex.
These are the words that describe this book. The author's personal story will make you cry and shiver. An original story, and one rarely told by a man with the degree of openness that Simon has here. A dormant truth, safely hidden on the boy's heart, a boy who could not grow up. The residual impacts of the sexual abuse that occurred 35 years prior, limited and restrained that boy. His emotional development was disabled, creating many bad mindsets, habits and addictions. This is a story that will change your life.
The purpose of telling this story is to encourage an open discourse about sexual abuse, it should encourage other men with the same pain that constricts their life and restricts them from BEING A MAN! All sexual abuse victims should talk, we must hear them when they silently cry out loud HELP.
There are too many wounded souls who have been robbed of their fundamental right to develop their emotions - and this has lessened their opportunity to create and establish their own life. STOP THE VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN!
An awareness must be raised that sexual abuse is an absolutely unacceptable invasion of a child's privacy that leads to a developmental dysfunction. Societal awareness must exist to ensure that the community is ready and able to take immediate action to protect a child when the tell-tale signs of abuse, like changes to behavior or habits, are evident.
Nobody, and I mean nobody should experience the things this story tells. They leave an indelible mark or a tattoo as the author names it. A consequence of the trauma is a crippled soul who cannot find its way to the light and freedom. The pain is a constant companion day and night, a peg leg causing failure in life. Everything is subordinated to the pain and shame caused by sexual abuse. And sexual abuse never goes out of memory, and it disappears out of the body even less.
"Reliving the sexual abuse became so strong that made me rub off my left hand, because I felt sperm on it, sliding down. I could feel it, but couldn't see it. My tears were dropping from my chin and in that moment, a few snowflakes came down from the sky." (A Boy With a Tattoo on his Heart)
All of you who care about our society should read this book. Social workers, police officers, psychologists and psychiatrists should read it, and teachers and social advisers, too. The book should be in all secondary school libraries and government libraries. It is written for all who want to protect our children and raise them to become independent, creative and heartly people - this is the only way to make our world a kinder and a lot more socially stable place than it is today.
